Survivor: Genosha
by Quing
Summary: The "geniuses" at the network have a "great" new idea for a twist on a popular reality show. The X-Men make appearances.
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DISCLAIMER: I do not own the X-Men or Survivor.

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"**No, Ah refuse to eat that. That's disgusting!"**

**The rest of her team looked at her pleadingly. Daniel spoke up first. "Come on, Anna. We simply have to win one of the challenges." **

**She narrowed her eyes and looked around at the rest of the group. "Are y'all gonna do it too?"**

**They nodded. "Fahne. Ah'll do it. But this is not the kind of thing that you'd have t' eat if ya were really tryin' t' survive here, y'all know that, right?"**

"**You speaking from experience, mutie?" Trey raised an eyebrow in defiance, to which Anna responded with a laugh that the whole group echoed. Of all the people on the island, none of them could even begin to imagine Anna as being one of the mutants. At first, they had suspected her based on the uncanny resemblance she held to one of the X-Men, but that notion was dismissed as soon as one of the contestants who knew a lot about the X-Men pointed out that she was able to touch people. Still, the rest of the team sometimes referred to her as "Rogue," just as a joke. **

**She approached the table and looked down at her plate in disgust. "If Ah wanted this, Ah would have signed up for 'Fear Factor' instead." She picked up a fork and speared one of the cockroaches. She looked at it closer and waved the fork triumphantly in the air. "Ah was right! These things don't even live on Genosha. They come from Madagascar, and as y'all know, that's a little bit south of here." The rest of the people at the table just looked at her, a few of them shrugged. **

**Sarah lifted one up with her fork and watched it try to grab onto the metal. "That doesn't change the fact that we have to eat them."**

**Katie nodded. "And where does an auto mechanic even learn shit like that?"**

**Anna sighed and bit into the hard shell of the cockroach. As she shoved the rest of it in her mouth, she answered the question, making sure that everyone had a clear view of the disgusting insect as she chomped on it. "Ah must of picked it up somewhere. Ah'm more than a grease monkey, ya know. Who wants seconds?" She held up the platter and laughed, then set it back down again and eyed a particularly large cockroach that was waddling towards her plate. She pushed it around on the table with her fork, waiting for the rest of her team to choke down a bug. As she nudged it, she saw it's eyes flash a familiar yellow. She jumped a little bit and plucked the insect off of the table, turning away to give it a stern talking-to. **

"**What are ya doin here? You could be eaten! That ain't safe for you, and you know it." The cockroach made as defiant a face as a cockroach could, and jumped out of her hands, scuttling away into the forest. She turned back to the table and was pleased to find that everyone else had eaten their little snacks. She stood up and turned to the nearest cameraman. "We're done. Can we go back t' camp?" The stocky man nodded and took a bite of his pizza. She rolled her eyes and stood up from the table. Her teammates all stood as well, and they headed back to their base camp. **

"**Right. Well, it does seem like a possibility. Of course. I'll talk to him about it. I'll bring it up at a meeting. One of the lower profile members? Such as? Ah. I see. You have my full support on this project, provided that I am not left out of any aspect of the planning. And I will know if you are being secretive. Yes. It had better not come to that, I agree. Very well. Fax me the specifics." He hung up the phone. The network had contacted him a week earlier, with the idea of a reality show involving both mutants and humans, something that would, if it went well, make the mutant/human relations a lot better. After negotiations with the developers of the program, he had agreed to oversee the mutant aspect of it. They were also looking for a high-profile mutant to co-host the program. They had chosen Warren Worthington. The Professor telepathically summoned Warren and the rest of his team to his office. Once they had arrived, he explained the entire situation. **

"**You are all familiar with the show, 'Survivor', correct?" The group nodded, and Jubilee shouted, "Duh!" Xavier ignored her outburst and continued. "I have recently been approached by a representative of the producers of that show. They are interested in creating a version of the show with mutants. Warren, they want you to host."**

"**What?"**

"**They want you to be Jeff Probst's co-host."**

"**Me? Why?"**

"**You test well with audiences."**

"**Since when?"**

"**Darling, you're quite possibly the sexiest man alive, that's since when." Betsy answered the question in a way that Xavier simply could not. **

"**Well said, Elisabeth. Anyway, the way that the show is going to work is that there will be fifteen mutants and fifteen humans. No one will know which is which. They will have to work together on teams until, as you know; only one player will remain. The producers ask that I submit at least one of the other team members as a contestant." **

**Jubilee raised her hand and jumped up and down.**

"**Minimum age is 21."**

"**NOT FAIR!" She sat back down again and began to pout. **

**Xavier smiled. "I'm sure we can find a way for you to take part in the show."**

**That seemed to lift her spirits a little more, so he turned back to the group assembled in front of him. "They ask that the contestant be someone who is not visibly a mutant. Also, someone who isn't constantly in the spotlight. They don't want the contestants to be able to identify the team member right off the bat. Any volunteers?" **

**The room was quiet. No one volunteered, until Jubilee raised her voice again.**

"**Are you guys nuts? Someone do it!"**

**after another moment of silence, three people spoke up at once.**

"**I'll do it."**

"**Fahne."**

"**I guess."**

**Bobby, Rogue, and Jean had all volunteered, albeit reluctantly. After a few months of preparation on the network's behalf, the three of them boarded a train and rode to the airport, where they were met by a number of network publicists and the directors of the show. They arrived on the island of Genosha a few days later. The directors had given them all complete makeovers, so that they weren't as obviously themselves as they would like to have been. Bobby's entire wardrobe was replaced except for his mighty mouse t-shirt, which he simply refused to give up. The directors were worried that if he wore too much blue, he would be recognized. Similarly, all of the red was removed from Jean's wardrobe and her hair was dyed black. Rogue's hair was also dyed. They had tried to dye over the white on both sides of her face, but the stylist somehow felt that dying both would put her life in danger, so one long stripe of white hair remained. Most of the green had been flushed from her wardrobe as well. The changes that they had to go through went beyond aesthetics, though. Bobby and Jean were both given false last names and Rogue went back to using her "Anna Raven" alias. None of the contestants knew where the filming was to take place, in order to keep it as secret as possible, but all three of them felt something drop when they looked out the window of the cargo planes carrying them onto the island and recognized it as Genosha. They were soon divided onto their respective teams and the game began.**

**The popcorn was popped, and the entire group was assembled in the large rec. room, as the show started. **

"**Man, I love HDTV!" Bobby squeezed himself in in-between Gambit and Betsy on the couch, and grabbed the popcorn bowl.**

"**Really? I think you just love staring at your own ass in as high a resolution as possible, am I right?" Betsy snatched the bowl back from him as Rogue plopped herself unceremoniously halfway on the couch and halfway on Remy's lap.**

"**Shut up, y'all. It's starting."**

**Sure enough, the intro had begun. **

_On the desolate island of Genosha, where once mutants reigned supreme, thirty people will be left to their own devices. Fifteen of them are mutants. Fifteen are humans. But only one will be the Survivor._

**The logo rolled onto the screen as Warren popped open a beer and handed it down to Betsy.**

"**Thanks, luv."**

"**You're quite welcome." **

**As he said the last word, a much larger-than-life version of himself appeared on the screen, wearing a pair of tribal-looking pants and no shirt.**

_"Welcome to Survivor: Genosha. I'm Warren Worthington the third, and I'll be your co-host. For those of you familiar with the program, be prepared to see thing happening a little bit different. For those of you new to Survivor, welcome aboard."_

**Another man stepped up beside him and spoke.**

"_I'm Jeff Probst, and it is an honor to be co-hosting this with you, Warren. As many of our viewers may already be aware, you are a member of the well-known mutant team, the X-Men. You are also the CEO of Worthingto—"_

**"This is so embarrassing." Warren buried his head in his hands, and Jean turned to him from her place near the couch.**

**"At least you didn't have to go a two months without showering."**

**"Touché." Luckily, though, Jeff had moved on.**

"_And now, lets meet our teams. First off, meet the Magistrates."_

**The screen went immediately to a picture of Bobby in a polo shirt and khakis, looking like he had just crawled out of Scott's closet. He smiled at the camera and approached it.**

"_Hi. I'm Robert Drakeson, and I'm a 23 year old accountant from Long Island."_

**"Drakeson? dat's de best you could come up with? Drakeson?" Remy laughed.**

**Logan was both amused and irritated. "I can come up with better aliases than that when I've got a steel girder through my forehead."**

**"That's only because your forehead IS a steel girder. Besides, it's a script. They just told us what to say."**

**"Why don't you shut up and go do my taxes for me, bub?"**

**"Oh, I'll do your taxes, alright." He iced up his fist and waved it threateningly at Logan, who just laughed and unsheathed his claws. He felt something pop in his shoulder and noticed that Betsy had thrown something at him. Looking down, her grunted as his shoulder began to bleed. "That was a new shirt, too." He turned his attention back to the screen, as Jean walked into the frame, also wearing something a little bit more conservative than usual.**

"_My name is Jean Sumner, I'm 25, and I'm married. I work with troubled kids in upstate New York."_

**"Who did the wardrobe for this show? A group of nuns? Show some skin, Jeanie!" Logan made a whooping noise and was about to go on, but noticed Scott's eyes glowing a little brighter than usual and the wound that Betsy had inflicted upon him had just barely healed. He popped open another beer and grunted. "Alright. Alright. This show is turning out to be a lot less exciting than I thought it would be."**

**He walked towards the kitchen as Warren introduced the second team, the "Mutates." He nodded his head mockingly as the contestants introduced themselves. He was just about to profess his boredom once again and go out to Harry's Hideaway, when he heard a lot of whooping coming from the rec room. He ran back in just in time to see Rogue, wearing what looked like little more than a bathing suit, lean into the camera and introduce herself.**

"_Hey there. Ah'm Anna. Anna Raven, and Ah'm a 24 year old auto mechanic. Ah was born in Mississippi, but now Ah live in Valle Soleada, California. And yes, this is mah natural hair color."_

**Rogue had buried her face in a pillow and Logan's jaw had hit the ground. Bobby was staring at the television, not blinking. Remy had suddenly become quite uncomfortable with Rogue sitting on his lap, and Scott looked concerned.**

**"Did you kill anyone?" He looked up at Rogue.**

**"No, Ah didn't kill anyone. But Ah'm gonna if y'all don't drop it."**

**Logan took off his jacket and threw it in the hallway. "Maybe I _will _stay for the rest of the show."**

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A/N: You may recognize some of the people in this... mostly because they are based on MFN members. So if you're from MFN, you may be here. And I apologize if I make the character named after you come off as a real asshole. It's not at all a commentary on your own disposition.  
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**If I get good Reviews, I'll continue. **


	2. 2

DISCLAIMER: Among the many things that I do not own sit both the X-Men and Survivor. I do own Jeff Probst, though. He's currently chained in my basement. He says hi.

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"**I don't know If I'm just getting a little paranoid, what with the ranks being so thin and all, but I have a feeling that we're about to find out just who the mutants are. I've tried to be as open as possible about it, but the truth of the matter is that I bet I'm going to have to make some new, different friends very, very soon. Don't get me wrong, I don't hate mutants. But there's just something about them… They make me feel uneasy. I've read a lot about them, with my work on a number of campaigns and with a few different politicians. I know that they can be dangerous. From what I've seen, they're murderers." He looked around the small room and raised his hands. "This place is case in point. When I got my letter telling me that I was chosen, I did my research. This place was mutant slavery central. And you know who enslaved them? Other mutants. I mean, even our tribal names are reminiscent of that! The Magistrates were the militia of the first government. They were brutal. The Mutates? They were nothing more than kids. Kids who were basically harvested for their abilities. They didn't even have names. If mutants would be willing to do that to each other, just imagine what they'd do to me. I don't know…" Trey stepped out of the confessional and closed the bamboo door behind him. He made his way down the path and smiled at Anna, who winked back at him as she climbed the hill. He turned and watched her walk up. "I hate to see you go, but I love to see you walk away…" He continued staring until he felt something hard hit him hard on the head. He turned around and saw Jean running towards him to fetch the soccer ball that she had been kicking around.**

"**Sorry, Trey! Little accident!" Trey threw the ball back to her and she walked away, muttering "pervert" under her breath. She peeked up at the confessional booth just in time to see Anna close the door. **

**Inside the booth the camera was rolling. Anna stared at the door for a moment while collecting her thoughts. "Ya know, bamboo isn't indigenous t' Genosha either." The cameraman rolled his eyes. "Ah guess that they're gonna be combining th' tribes this week. That should be nice. Ah'll get t' see some of mah friends. It's been so long since Ah got t' use mah powers, Ah went for a little fly last night after Ah thought everyone was asleep. Long story short, Sarah knows. Ah'm pretty sure she can keep her mouth shut, though. She ain't too bad, even for a lawyer. From th' way that Bobby and her act around each other, Ah have a feelin' that Ah'll be hearing from her even after this thing is all over. Good for him, though. Ah heard a crazy rumor that th' next challenge is gonna expose the mutants, but Ah dunno. Ah hope people don't get mad when they figure out that Ah'm lying. Although, it ain't really lying. They never asked me directly. Ah bet most of 'em guessed on th' first day. Th' hair is a dead giveaway. But no one knew about mah ability t' control the absorbtion, so that was helpful. Especially after that story that ran last year about how mutants have problems, too… Ah still don't know how that journalist got all of that information. Ah'm rambling. Seeya." She stepped out of the confessional and walked back down to the beach, where the rest of the teams were assembled and waiting. She stood next to Sarah and grinned. Soon after that, Jubilee ran over to the group, shooting off fireworks to get their attention.**

"**Guys, one minute until show time. Do your hair or whatever, I gotta go get into uniform." She bounced back towards the trailers. **

"**Spunky, isn't she?" Betty chuckled a bit at Jubilee's antics, as Warren and Jeff took their places on the platform above the contestants. The cameras started rolling and Jeff began speaking. **

"**Tonight on Survivor: Genosha, we combine the two tribes. Your new headquarters will be on Hammer Bay, on the other side of the island. There are partial structures there, and you will be given a few days to get settled, find water, and food."**

**Warren continued the speech. "Since the trip is rather intense, I've invited a few of my friends along to help." **

**On cue, the cameras cut to the beach, where a large airplane was landing. All of the contestants were shocked, some because they had never seen such a jet in person before and some because they simply were not expecting it to show up. Most of the contestants had no idea who would be stepping off of the jet. **

"**Oh, crap." Anna didn't know how she was going to handle this new development. One look at Bobby and she knew that she wasn't alone in that. Jean, of course, had known of it ahead of time. The sound of the ramp being lowered brought her back to the beach and she looked over towards the jet. Sure enough, there stood Scott, Hank, Logan, Betsy, Piotr, Jubilee, Kitty, Kurt, Ororo, and Remy. Anna had never realized just how good they all looked, lined up like that. Sarah nudged her and she was jolted back to reality again.**

"**No whimpering, Rogue. I need you to introduce me to someone."**

**She hadn't even realized that she was being that obvious. "Who d'ya want t' meet?"**

"**The hunky one in the trenchcoat with the big stick."**

**Anna laughed. "Hands off, he's mine."**

"**You're joking?"**

"**Nope."**

"**Way to go, girl."**

"**Tell me about it."**

"**Well how about the one with the funky glasses?"**

"**Married to Jean."**

"**Jean?"**

"**Yeah, you know… Jean, like from the other tribe."**

"**She's one too?"**

"**Shh."**

"**Damn." She looked over the lineup again and noticed something. "There's someone still missing. I've seen pictures. There's another guy."**

"**Yeah, Warren. Angel." **

"**No, besides him. There's a snowman."**

"**Iceman."**

"**Oh. Whatever. Where's he?"**

"**He's, uh, around." She was surprised that Bobby hadn't already told her. "Ah'm sure you'll meet him soon." **

"**Cool."**

"**Pun intended?"**

"**You bet."**

**

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**

"**Commercial is almost over!" Jubilee yelled loud enough for the entire mansion to hear her. Since the show started, the crowd that gathered in the rec. room weekly to watch it had more than doubled, as students and friends of the team flocked to watch it with three (sometimes four) of the contestants. Logan nudged Rogue in the side. "What are you guys talking about there?" **

"**Huh?"**

"**You and Sarah. You're talking."**

"**We were talking about you, of course."**

**He turned his head and noticed that Sarah herself had just walked in with a few bags of food. She winked at Rogue, who took the ball and ran with it.**

"**Yeah, we were talkin' about how cute your ass looks in that spandex. We were hopin' that you'd accidentally rip th' fabric before we got to camp, and we could walk behind ya on the trail."**

**"…Really?"**

**The answer came in unison. "No."**

**Remy walked into the room with a six-pack and set it down on the table, looking for a place on the couch to squeeze himself into. Eventually he gave up and sat on Rogue. **

"**Ah can't see the screen."**

"**Don' matter, you seen it already. You were dere, remember?"**

"**So were you."**

**He slid off of her and sat on the ground, leaning back so that his head was on her lap. He looked up at her and smiled.**

"**Better, Chere?" **

"**Much."**

"**I look so good on camera." Jubilee was excited that she got to be on national television. Simply working behind the scenes was fun, but actually being a part of it was so much more fun. Onscreen, the team had walked down the ramp of the jet and over to join Jeff and Warren on the small platform, where they introduced themselves. **

"_**It is a pleasure to meet you. Warren has told me many stories."**_

**Warren smiled at the team and addressed the camera.**

"_**Now that we have some help, the teams will make their way back to their respective camps for the last time. Then they will relocate to Hammer Bay, with the help of the X-Men." **_

**Half of the X-Men went with Jean and Bobby's team, the other half went with Sarah and Rogue's. Personal introductions were made, and they headed off.**

"**_When we return to Survivor: Genosha,"_ a voice narrated, "_Are secrets going to be revealed?" _ The screen went to a clip of Betsy and Bobby sword fighting in the woods. Betsy was using her psychic blade, and Bobby had made a lightsaber out of ice.**

"**Heh… oops."**

"_**And will romances be discovered?"**_

**"See, Bobby. Ya gotta remember that th' cameras are everywhere." Rogue shook her finger at him.  
**

"**Speak for yourself."**

"**What?"**

**Bobby pointed to the screen, where Rogue and Gambit were ducking off of the trail. Another brief shot showed them making out in the woods.**

"**WHAT THE HELL?"**

"**There's cameras everywhere, Anna banana." Bobby taunted her.**

**The phone rang, and Scott answered it. "Hello?" His eyes grew wide and he held the receiver away from his ear. Everyone could hear someone shouting on the other end, and Logan laughed. He could hear exactly what that person was saying.**

"**It's for you, Rogue. It's your mother."**

"**Shit."**

**

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**  
"**Ah can't believe they let you come with our tribe." She had made sure that she wasn't in earshot of any of her tribe menbers before talking candidly with Remy.**

"**Oui. De professor let us choose."**

**Remy, as well as Ororo, Logan, Kitty, and Piotr had gone with Rogue's group, while Betsy, Kurt, Scott, Jubilee, and Hank had gone with the other group. **

**The camps were about thirty minutes from the main site, and the X-Men had a lot of time to get to know the contestants. **

"**So you're the youngest, huh?"**

"**Yep. Lived in a mall and stuff, it was cool."**

"**How long has Betty been on the team?"**

"**You mean Betsy?"**

"**No… Betty." He pointed to the contestant. **

"**Oh, I see what you're doing. I may talk a lot, but I don't let information like that slip. Sorry, Malachi."**

"**Ah, well. I tried."**

"**I'll give you that."**

**Farther along the trail, Betsy nudged Bobby. "Care to do a bit of training?"**

"**I know a spot in the woods where the cameras don't reach."**

"**Let's go."**

**They hung back a little bit and ran off, Bobby forming a strong icecicle along the way. **

"**So, you're a scientist?"**

"**Correct."**

"**They just let you walk into a University and get a degree?"**

"**Well, I had to do the coursework, naturally. But yes, why wouldn't they?"**

"**It's just…"**

"**How obviously a mutant I am?"**

"**Yes." **

"**I wasn't always blue and furry, you know. In fact, It wasn't until after I graduated that I happened upon the serum that created this."**

"**So you were normal in college?"**

"**Oh, I wouldn't say normal, Betty. I was a football player. See my feet? Came in handy on the field. No pun intended. Long story short, I was a natural. But people at the school disagreed about the natural part of that statement. I was kicked out and joined up with Xavier. Finished my degree from within the X-Men."**

"**And the fur?"**

"**Experimenting. Needed a lab rat. I took matters into my own hands. Instead of furthering my mutation, I degenerated myself to a primate. Move over, King Kong."**

"**What about the other blue one?"**

"**Nightcrawler?"**

"**Yes."**

"**He was born that way as far as I know."**

**Betty was quite curious about how exactly mutation worked. Paul, on the other hand, was more interested in just how much depth some particular mutants had.**

"**You're a priest?"**

"**Ja."**

"**And you're a member of the X-Men?"**

"**Why else would I be here with them, mein freund?"**

"**It's just… doesn't that seem a bit hypocritical?"**

"**Not at all. In the bible, we are taught that kindness is the key to salvation. We do not act upon hatred, we act against it. God made us the way we are for a reason, and being with the X-Men gives me a way to serve God by using the gifts he gave me for good."**

"**That's an interesting way of looking at it. What do you do with people, religious organizations, that claim that Mutants are demons of some sort?"**

"**Oh, believe me. Looking the way that I do, I get that a lot. Sometimes people cannot be persuaded. Otherwise, I am more than happy to discuss it with them."**

**Paul and Kurt continued to talk religion until they reached the campsite. Up ahead, at the top of the hill, Jean and Scott had already climbed it and were deep in conversation.**

"**Anything interesting been going on at the mansion?"**

"**Oh, just the usual. Logan destroyed a couch the other day."**

"**That doesn't surprise me."**

"**I'm working with Hank on developing a new fabric for the uniforms. Maybe you could work on a design?"**

"**Sure."**

"**Make sure that they're better than Jubilee's."**

"**That shouldn't be too hard."**

"**True. We were thinking of some sort of leather coated with something or other."**

"**Oh, Scott. No leather."**

"**Why? Leather is sexy."**

"**You said the same about spandex."**

"**I stand by that."**

**She pointed to his face. "New visor."**

"**You noticed."**

"**Of course I did. Plus, Hank is talking about it about thirty feet behind us. His brain is moving faster than his mouth."**

"**It's a little bit more streamlined. And he made the layer of ruby quartz thinner, too. I see things in a much lighter shade of red. Except your hair."**

**She ran her hand through it. "Yeah, they made me dye it."**

"**It isn't purple, is it?"**

"**No, Betsy would kill me. That's her trademark. It's black."**

"**Black, huh? How's it look?"**

"**I'll show you when we get back to camp and I get a mirror."**

"**All righty… so do any of your friends here know?"**

"**Only Bobby and Rogue. And most recently, Sarah. Rogue told her. But we can trust her."**

"**Are you sure?"**

"**Yep. She'll most likely be the next one to leave the island. A lot of people aren't comfortable around her because she's a lawyer."**

"**That sucks."**

"**Tell me about it. And Bobby kind of has a thing for her. Guess nothing'll happen there."**

"**This is like a bad soap opera."**

"**Speaking of which, when we pass this ridge, look to the right. You'll see a very happy couple."**

"**Ok…" **

**They walked on in silence, until they passed the ridge. Scott looked, as instructed, and immediately wished he hadn't.**

"**Oh, God… too much information." **

"**Think I should move a hedge or something so they have more privacy?"**

"**Depends. How badly do you want to win this game?"**

"…**you're evil."**

"**Only as necessary."**

**

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A/N: That took me longer than I had hoped... I lost the disk that I keep my stories on and had to rewrite most of it. And then, of course, I found the disk. Pfft. Well, review!  
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	3. 3

**Disclaimer: I don't own the x men, but I do own the story. **

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****"This is getting more and more interesting minute by minute." Betsy pulled her knees to her, folding her arms around them. "I hate to guess what they censored for the show."**

"**You don't have to, I'll tell you later." Jean grinned. **

"**What?"**

"**Eh?"**

**Both Rogue and Remy were more than embarrassed that a great deal of what had happened had been caught on film, and they were thankful that it was a prime-time network television show.**

"**I saw it." she clarified.**

"**Ya saw it!" **

"**Sure did. So did Scott."**

"**I don't really want to get into this…" Scott was visibly uncomfortable.**

"**Ok, forget that Scott saw it. Henry saw it too."**

"**What!"**

"**I, uh…" The large man with the voluminous vocabulary was irregularly unable to string two words together. **

"**Ok, who else saw?"**

**Everyone looked around the room, and two more hands went up. **

"**KURT! You're a priest, for cryin' out loud."**

"**Rogue, it was hard not to notice it."**

"**Yeah, I mean who does it in the woods anyways?"**

"**Jubilee, stay outta this."**

"**Sorry, chica. I'm all in this."**

"**I still don't understand how I missed the whole thing."**

"**By the time you and Obi Wan there were finished dueling, I had already blocked it from view on the trail."**

"**Wait…on de trail?"**

"**That's what I said."**

"**Everyone who was on de trail could see it?"**

"**Everyone."**

"**So Paul, Betty and Malachi knew too?"**

"**They only knew what they saw."**

"**And what did dey see?"**

"**Something that normally would have cost them rental fees."**

"**I'm surprised you didn't see it, Betsy… Jean was kind enough to project it to me."**

"**WHAT!"**

"**Actually, she showed me as well." Ororo confessed.**

**Kitty raised her hand. "Ditto."**

"**Da, me as well."**

"**You all like what you saw?" Remy grinned.**

"**God…Ah need a drink." **

**She lifted herself off of the couch and smoothed out her skirt. She tried to climb through the mess of people scattered around the room. She heard giggling coming from where a number of students from the academy were situated, and shot them a glare. While she wasn't looking, Bobby built an ice wall right in front of her, causing her to stumble a little bit. She kicked it and shattered it, before giving up on weaving her way through the people and flying into the air.**

"**I see London, I see France I see…"**

"**Evidently it ain't anything ya haven't already seen, Bobby." She landed at the door and headed to the kitchen. **

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"**Anyone know where Anna is?" The campsite was almost completely packed, with the exception of Anna's belongings. As soon as Daniel asked the question, he noticed that most of the X-Men looked slightly uneasy.**

"**Well?"**

"**Um, I have an idea." Kitty started to giggle and Ororo nudged her a little bit, barely containing laughter herself. **

"**And wheres the other…nevermind." Sarah had put two and two together and walked over to Rogue's space. "I'll pack it all up for her. I bet she's just visiting with the other camp." **

"**You're probably right. I'll check with Hank. He's a telepath." Storm closed her eyes and sent as strong a message as she could to Jean, who responded with an affirmitive. Yes, she would cover for her.**

"**She says that they're both over there. Remy wanted to introduce her to Scott. She's a big fan, evidently."**

"**She says?" Trey spoke up. "I thought you said that the telepath was a he." **

"**Slip of the tongue."**

"**Right."**

"**Speaking of slipping the tongue, we'll be back." Tallon grabbed Katie's hand and they walked away.**

**Kitty watched them walk away. "Wow." **

"**What?" **

"**Is the entire island this horny?"**

**Daniel laughed. "Lets just say that it gets cold here at night."**

"**He ain't kidding. I spent a good amount of time in this place. Made myself a few friends."**

"**Oh, really?" Ororo had never heard this particular story before.**

"**That's all yer getting outta me, 'Ro." **

**Kitty walked over to where Sarah was packing.**

"**Jean told me that you know. Thanks for covering."**

"**It was nothing. I lie well. I'm a lawyer."**

**Kitty chuckled. "Did Jean Project to you, too?"**

"**Come again?"**

"**She's a telepath. She can project images into your mind."**

"**I don't know if I like where this is going."**

"**She passed them on the path."**

"**And they were…"**

"**If you think her name loud enough, she'll hear you. I'm sure she'd be happy to project it to you if you so wish."**

"**I think I'll pass."**

"**Your choice." **

**They loaded all of her things into her duffel bag and Kitty hoisted it over her shoulder then noticed something towards the edge of the campsite and phased through the bag, letting it drop to the ground heavily.**

"**What's this?" **

"**Oh, I almost forgot that."**

**Sarah looked around to make sure that the microphones weren't trained on them.**

"**The rule is that you can bring along whatever you can fit into a bag that size. No electronics. Anna, as you know, is stronger than most. She was able to fit a television in there and make it look like nothing more than a big box of tampons. They do a baggage check and she waves the box around like it weighs nothing. No one was the wiser. At night, they only keep one camera on. It rotates. We sneak away while it's pointed in another direction, we take advantage of the satellite about five miles away, Anna knew where it was when we first got here. Said she once had a cell with a view. I caught her creeping away in the middle of the night. Tried to follow her once, but she took to the air. I confronted her. The rest is history."**

"**I'm surprised she didn't just put you into a coma so that you'd be forced to leave due to medical reasons."**

"**She considered it, but we made a pact. It's important to have allies here."**

"**Don't I know it."**

**Just then, a slight rustling behind them made them turn around. Anna was standing there, smiling.**

"**Hey, y'all."**

"**Well, that was fast" Kitty muttered just loud enough for Sarah to hear. Sarah stifled a laugh and waved at Rogue.**

"**You weren't here so we packed up for you."**

"**Aw, that's sweet of you. Thanks, gals." She grabbed the bag and headed towards the trail that would take them to Hammer bay. Sarah tried to carry the small television, but it was too heavy.**

"**Damn… This is so little. Why does it weigh so much?"**

**Kitty opened the box. "It's Shi-ar."**

"**That's like Sony?"**

"**No, that's like Martian. They're aliens. Much more advanced technologically than we are."**

"**That explains how that little thing expands into a big-screener."**

"**Yeah, but you'd think that they'd invent a lighter way of implementing it, huh?"**

**Sarah nodded in agreement, then picked up her bag and handed Kitty a crate. She yelled ahead "Anna! You forgot your tampons!"**

**Rogue jerked her head around and dropped the bag, running back to them and picking it up effortlessly, throwing it into the air and catching it lightly.**

"**Thanks again, sugah."**

"**No problem."**

**She skipped back to her bag and tucked the box away. **

"**Alright, who wants to go get Tallon and the porn star?" Daniel had finished his packing and thrown his bag towards the foot of the trail, where Gambit had thanked him and sat down on it, leaning against a tree and putting his feet up on a stump. "Porn star, mon ami?"**

"**That's right. She used to do porn." **

"**Wow, Remy's starting t' like dis group."**

"**Who's Remy?"**

"**He's Remy, you idiot. He's just talking in third person."**

"**Trey, if you call me an idiot one more time, I swear, I'll beat you to a bloody pulp."**

"**Try it, captain science, and I'll slap a lawsuit on you as fast as you can say robot."**

"**Actually, that'd never hold water. Kick his ass, Danny boy." Sarah laid her bag next to Daniel's. "I vote that Trey goes and gets them."**

"**Seconded." Daniel looked smug.**

"**Ah agree. Go on, get." Rogue threw a little rock at his leg.**

"**Ow." He looked around and noticed that no one else was going to budge. He wanted to get to Hammer bay before the other group, so that he could have first pick of the campsites. "Fine, I'll go. But if I'm emotionally scarred…"**

"**It'll be much easier on ya than the scarring that Ah'm gonna leave on you if ya aren't outta this clearing in the next ten seconds."**

**Trey started to object but realized just how serious she was and stormed off into the woods. **

* * *

**The phone rang again and Rogue was more than happy to answer it in the kitchen.**

"**Hello. This is she. Oh, hey. Yes, we're watching. You're what? And you want me t' see it first? All of them? Hang on a second." She walked back over to the rec room. **

**Jean, Bobby, Warren, and Sarah were already on their way out.**

"**Ah swear, Jeanie… You're a pain in th' ass sometimes."**

**They walked into the kitchen and Rogue put on the speakerphone.**

"**They're here."**

**A voice on the other end of the line started to speak.**

"_It's a pleasure to talk to you all. We're going to be releasing the season on a DVD, and we would like to give you all the opportunity to review it before it goes out. It will be uncensored, so certain…scenes that were caught on camera but not cleared for network viewing will be on it."_

**"No."**

"_Excuse me?"_

**"No, Ah don't want you releasing that. Ah want all of the tapes of that. Any copies made."**

**"I can't do that…" **

**"Ya need mah permission t' put that on the dvd, right? Ya don't have it."**

**"Actually, Anna… he doesn't need it. You signed a release before you appeared on the show. They can show as much as they want."**

"_Exactly. If you're still interested in viewing it beforehand, there is a chance that you'll be able to censor certain parts of it."_

**"Wait. What about Remy? HE didn't sign a form! Ha!"**

"_Yes, he did."_

**"Damnit. Fahne. Ah'll do it."**

**"So will I." **

**"Yep."**

**"Of course."**

**"I'm in."**

**"_Great. You'll be contacted again in a few weeks when we have the first few shows together. Oh, and Anna?"_**

**She sighed. "What now?"**

"_Nice tattoo."_

**The line went dead and she hit the end button so hard that the phone cracked.**

**"What tattoo?" **

**"Bobby… you're really pushin' it."**

"**Noted." He walked back to the room, followed by everyone else. Rogue carried a bottle of bourbon. **

"**What'd we miss?" Sarah acted as if she didn't already know what happened.**

"**Not much. Trey found Tallon and Katie. Tallon lost his pants. Everyone laughed at him…"**

"**Alright."**

**The commercials ended and Jean's face came up on the screen, inside the confessional.**

_"Well, It looks as if things are heating up. In a minute, we're going to be moving to the centralized camp. When we get there, we're going to have to vote off one person, from either tribe. There's only room for thirty. Then we have a challenge, which the team… um, the X-Men, will help out on. From what I can tell, it's going to open some eyes. The professor has obviously trained people on putting up mental barriers. A job well done, Charles…"_

"**Thank you, Jean."  
**

"**Anytime."**

"…_But at least Scott and the gang are here. I may not be enjoying it as, well, outwardly as Rogue…"_

**Rogue threw a pillow at Jean. "Bitch."**

**"Love you too."**

"_It'll be interesting to see how they force the powers out of us. I mean, with Bobby, Rogue, and myself, I'm sure that they have files, but as for the others… I guess we'll see." _She stood up, and then sat back down again._ "Rogue is right, Bamboo doesn't grow here."_

**_

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_**

A/N: Sorry it took so long again. I've only got limited access to the internet from my home computer. Oh, and the reason for the boldededness of the story is that the way thatone of mycomputers is set up, it's hard to read anything that isn't in bold. Once I uploaded the first chapter, I kind of liked it all bold, so I kept it. The end -)

Oh, yeah I almost forgot... REVIEW!


	4. 4

DISCLAIMER: They still arent mine.

* * *

"**Good lord, Tallon. Put on some pants!" Daniel averted his eyes.**

"**Sorry, mate."**

"**And stop trying to play up the fact that we're both Australian!"**

"**Crikey, take it easy there fella. You're making me look bad in front of the Sheila. Why can't we just talk this out over a vegemite sandwich?"**

**Daniel rolled his eyes and laughed. "You're a walking stereotype."**

**Tallon took that as his cue to start walking. He put his arm around Katie's waist and headed up the path. "And you, Dan, smell like a dead dingo floating in the billabong. G'day to you all."**

"**What a moron." Daniel laughed and turned to the mostly American crowd standing behind him. "It's ok to laugh at that, you know. I won't be offended."**

**They let out a collective breath and a few of them started to chuckle nervously.**

**He shook his head. "Americans…" He picked up his bag and started up the trail, leaving everyone else behind.**

"**What was dat supposed t' mean?"**

"**Don't take it personally, Rem. He's a nanotechnologist. Not much of a people person."**

"**I am not American." Colossus raised his hand futilely.**

"**Nor I."**

"**Technically, you are, 'Ro."**

"**I grew up in Cairo..."**

"**You were born in Manhattan."**

"**He's got you there."**

"**Oh, has he? Well…You, James, are Canadian."**

"**Don't call me that."**

"**It's your name, isn't it?"**

"**Ororo, I said don't call me that. I haven't used that name since…"**

"**The late 19th century?" Storm offered.**

"**If you weren't so darn cute, I'd slice you into hundreds of tiny little Storm nuggets."**

"**Glad I've got that going for me, Canuck." **

**Logan grumbled and looked around. He knew that Sarah was trustworthy, but Trey… he wasn't so sure. **

"**_Jean?" _He decided to ask someone who would know. _"Can we trust Trey?"_**

"_**Well, he seems like a classic mutant hater, right-winger, religious…but he's a good guy, for the most part. Has a huge crush on Rogue. And I'm picking up something about a party and Internet pictures of him in a sombrero…seems he has his own "Love Trey" fan club. I can't really tell how he'll react. Judge by how he's treating you guys. He'll find out later today anyways."**_

"_**That was real in-depth. Thanks, Jeanie."**_

"_**I've had plenty of time to psi-scan every single one of the contestants."**_

"_**I can tell."**_

**"Uh… did he fall asleep?" Trey was tempted to poke the small man, whose eyes had been shut for a good thirty seconds.**

"**No, he's talking to someone."**

"**His mouth isn't moving, and no noise is coming out."**

"**He's talking through a psychic link."**

"**Meaning?"**

**Wolverine's eyes snapped open, startling Trey. **

"**Meaning I'm talkin' to Jean, that's what it means, bub."**

"**Jean? From the other tribe?"**

"**That's the one."**

"**She's a mutie?"**

**Logan nodded, and Anna sat down next to Remy, on Sarah's bag. "Ain't we all…"**

**Trey spun around. "YOU'RE a mutie, too?"**

**She laughed. "Ya act surprised. As Ah recall, you were the first one to bring up my resemblance to a certain X-Man."**

"**Wait… you ARE Rogue?"**

"**In the mutie flesh."**

"**Sarah's a mutant, too?"**

"**Well, she's a lawyer, if that counts…"**

**Sarah laughed. "Different kind of mutation, I think."**

**Trey sat down on a nearby stump. "Let me get this straight. Anna is really Rogue. Jean can read my mind, and the little hairy guy talks to people in his head?"**

**Logan unsheathed his claws. "That's MISTER little hairy guy to you, bub."**

**Trey backed up. "My bad."**

**Gambit took another drag of his cigarette. "You got it all right, up until de furball. Jeanie is de one who talks in people's heads."**

"_**Hello, Trey."**_

"**What the!" He fell backwards, and everyone laughed. As he righted himself, he looked around. "Are there any other famous mutants lurking on this island that I should know about?"**

**Kitty thought for a minute. "Bobby."**

"**What!" This time, the surprised shout came from Sarah.**

"**Oh, he never told you?"**

**Sarah was still dumbfounded. "No!" She looked at Rogue. "How come you didn't…"**

"**Figured he'd tell you himself when he thought th' time was right." She shrugged and stood up. "Anyone else ready to get a move on?"**

"**Non. Ten more minutes."**

"**This ain't nap time."**

**Everyone picked up their bags and started up the trail, leaving Remy sitting on the ground. Just before they turned the corner, Rogue looked back and rolled her eyes. She flew to him and flung him over her shoulder, returning to the rest of the group. **

"**Who wants t' race?"**

**No one took her up on the challenge. "Oh, come on, Ah'm carrying this bag and the swamp rat. that'll slow me down."**

"**No, it won't." Piotr pointed out.**

"**You're no fun."**

**She took to the air anyways and flew to the camp.**

"**It's incredible how much they actually catch on tape." Henry watched as a close up of him talking to Betty was projected onto the screen, every moment of their conversation being captured.**

"**No kidding." Rogue was still quite bitter.**

"**What surprises me," Jean broke in, "Is that they didn't manage to capture Mystique."**

**Rogue nodded in agreement, and just about everyone else shot them looks of confusion.**

"**Mystique was there?" Jubilee thought that she had known all about everyone who was a part of the crew. She herself had combed the island a number of times, whenever the taping was getting too slow for her liking.**

**Logan nodded. "Big, beefy cameraman. Handlebar mustache. Balding." **

**Bobby thought for a second. "Stu? Stu was Mystique?"**

"**Yeah. Stu."**

"**Ah didn't know that either. Ah just knew that she was around."**

"**She was Stu." Bobby still couldn't believe it.**

"**That fact has not changed in the last few seconds, Robert." **

"**Shut up."**

**The scene changed again to a time-lapsed montage of the two tribes moving into the new headquarters. Over the course of the montage, Sarah confronted Bobby about his little secret, and Tallon and Katie made themselves scarce yet again. Rogue and Gambit, however, resisted the urge to do the same and instead continued to unpack. **

**Once they had all settled in to their new campsite, Warren and Jeff re-appeared, this time with the Professor. The group assembled to hear what the three men had to say. **

"_Some of you already know Professor Charles Xavier, but others do not. He is the founder of the X-Men, and quite possibly the world's strongest telepath. Tonight, all of you will receive a home-cooked meal and a place to sleep, courtesy of Professor Xavier and the rest of the X-Men."_** Jeff nodded to Warren, who continued the speech. **

"_In fifteen minutes, you will board the X-Jet, and travel to the X-Men's headquarters, where you will train briefly as an X-Man. After two days, you will undergo your next challenge. Following the challenge, you will stay the night at the Xavier school and return the following morning to the island for elimination."_

"**You guys have no idea how happy Ah was when y'all said that, Warren."**

**"Really, that was the single most satisfying moment of the whole game." Jean agreed.**

"**Yes, even those on the island who were wary of us were grateful for the chance to take a shower." The professor spoke up. "Jean and Betsy can agree, I'm sure, that they were barely able to contain themselves."**

**Betsy nodded. "Katie was starting to worry about the lack of deodorant."**

"**Weren't we all." Bobby looked at Jean, who held up her hands.**

"**How was I supposed to know that I would run out that fast?"**

"**You didn't have to steal mine, you know." **

"**I couldn't go around smelling like garbage, now could I?"**

"**Well, neither could I."**

"**You didn't have to! You're made of Ice. Ice doesn't sweat."**

"**I'm not made of ice."**

**Jean took a framed picture off of the wall telekinetically and floated it into Bobby's lap. He looked down. It was the cover of Newsweek that the whole team had recently posed for. He was there, in his iced up form.**

"**Shut up."**

"**Clever retort."**

"**You could have just brainwashed everyone into thinking that you smelled good!"**

"**That would have been cheating."**

"**And icing up to disguise my own smell wouldn't?"**

"**As lovely as this conversation is, the show is starting again." Hank put an end to their little fight, much to everyone's pleasure. **

"_This is the X-Jet. An RS-150 Blackbird, it is the only remaining of a number of aircraft built by the international law enforcement agency, SHIELD, based on designs by the head of the Lockheed Aircraft Corporation's Advanced Development Project Group. Of course, since it was built some time ago, we have enhanced it with a number of other technologies, courtesy of our friend, Forge, and some technologically advanced aliens. It is a vertical take off and landing craft, and it can fly at speeds of up to Mach 4.2 at high altitudes. It is also able to fly into outer space, provided we stay within Earth's orbit. We have two of these, the gold and the blue. This one is the gold. It is larger than the blue, and has recently been fitted with DVD players. Unfortunately, we only have a few movies with us, but don't worry, the flight will be short enough that you won't go crazy."_

**"Out of curiosity, Scott... How long did it take you to memorize that little speech?"**

**Scott glared at Bobby as best he could through his glasses, and Jean answered the question for him.**

**"Two weeks."**

**Bobby laughed. "Figures."**

**The camera followed them onto the aircraft, and caught the looks of awe on the faces of most of the contestants. Rogue and Jean just looked relieved to be back on familiar ground, and Bobby feigned surprise as he went around the cockpit, pushing buttons. Scott stepped up and swatted Bobby's hand away from the control panel. With a grin, Bobby hopped into one of the passenger seats. Scott crossed his arms and tried to look important as the rest of the contestants filed onto the plane. He didn't even notice as Rogue sat down in the pilot's seat. Storm, however, noticed, and approached Scott. She whispered something that was not discernable on TV, and Scott nodded, moving to sit next to Jean. Once everyone was loaded onto the aircraft, Storm nodded to Rogue, who switched on the intercom.**

**"Oh, God... I hate this part."**

**"Shut up Scott, we're tryin' to watch." Rogue threw a pillow at him.**

"_This is your pilot speaking. We are prepared for takeoff. Please make sure that your tray tables are up and you seat back is in its full upright position. Your stewardess, Cyclops, will be around shortly with salted peanuts." _

**Scott tried to stand up, but Jean held him down, so instead, he shouted.** _"Rogue, what are you doing!"_

**She turned around and winked, as the airplane lifted off.**

"_This thing doesn't happen to come with airsickness bags, does it?" _**Betty buried her face in her hands.**

**

* * *

A/N: And there it is. The next chapter. Keep the reviews coming! I have a good part of this story already written, so it all depends on reviews! Did I mention that I like reviews?  
**


	5. 5

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own the X-Men. **

**

* * *

**

**The door slid open and the X-Men walked down the ramp, and out into the hangar, followed by the contestants. Professor Xavier was already waiting for them, near the elevator.**

"**Welcome to the Xavier Institute. You are currently standing in the first subbasement of my home. This building has been in my family for ten generations. Of course, it hasn't always held some of the...amenities that it currently boasts. If you will follow me, I'll take you up to the main level, where Jeff and Warren are waiting."**

**He boarded the elevator and the contestants and X-Men followed. The doors slid shut and then re-opened, as they made room for the camera crew. **

"**No filming on any of the sub-basements."**

"**You're the boss." **

**The elevator doors re-opened on the main floor of the mansion, and the contestants were ushered into the library. Once there, the cameramen cued Jeff.**

"**Today and tomorrow should prove most interesting. By the time you return to the island, you will all know exactly who is and who is not a mutant. Two of you will have immunity, and two of you will be voted off."**

**Warren continued. "But all of you will experience firsthand what it feels like to be a member of the X-Men. In a moment, you will be shown to your rooms, where uniforms are waiting for you. Then you will go on a tour of the facilities, after which you will be free to use the pool, sauna, and gym, or any of the recreation rooms until dinner. Tomorrow morning, you begin training. You will train all day tomorrow and the morning of the day after. Then, that afternoon, you will have the challenge."**

**The professor wheeled forward and nodded. **

"**If the women would follow Psylocke to your rooms, and the men Beast."**

**Betsy held open the door, mocking gallantry, and ushered the women into the hallway. A cameraman and sound technician followed. She turned to the group.**

"**Jean, 'Anna'... do whatever you please. The rest of you, right this way."**

**The group kept on walking, and Jean and Rogue looked at each other. **

"**Ah suppose that means th' rest of th' castaways know who we are."**

**Jean stared at the wall, psi-scanning them. "Yes, they do."**

"**Well... If you'll excuse me, Ah'm going to go take a long nap in a real bed."**

"**Sounds good. I'll do the same." Jean started walking towards the men's dorms, where the room that she shared with Scott was. After a moment, Rogue followed her.**

"**Not your own bed, though?"**

"**Cram it."**

**Upstairs, Betsy had shown all of the girls except one to their rooms.**

"**Well, Sarah... Here's yours. Right across the hall there is Rogue's room, if you ever need to see her. But chances are, she won't be there."**

"**Where will she be?"**

"**In the men's dorms. She spends a great deal of time over there. Would you like me to show you Gambit's room?"**

"**I guess. I mean, I've got nothing better to do."**

"**Then off we go." She pulled something from one of the bands on her uniform and handed it to Sarah.**

"**Here's your key, by the way."**

**Sarah eyed Betsy's outfit, looking for pockets. She found none. "Uh… where exactly were you holding that?"**

"**Some things are best left unanswered, luv."**

* * *

"**Haha… show us that look again, in slow motion."**

**Betsy rewound it and pressed the slow motion button on the remote control. They watched Daniel's eyes grow wide as he was handed his uniform. Once everyone had stopped laughing, she pushed play again and they kept on watching.**

"_Where does everything go?"_

"_Inside. They're pants."_

"_Barely."_

**Onscreen, Cyclops sighed. He ran a hand through his hair and turned to the door.**

"_Just put it on and come downstairs so that we can get it fitted right, ok? You can throw a robe on over it if you want."_

"_There aren't enough robes in the world."_

**Cyclops shook his head and walked out, closing the door behind him. Once out in the hallway, he grabbed another package from the large box and knocked on the next door. He turned to the camera.**

"_I hope Storm is having better luck with the girls' uniforms."_

**The door opened and Rogue popped her head out, her hair slightly messy. She looked at the camera and then at Scott.**

"_What?"_

**"Ah was taking a nap." Rogue clarified. Onscreen, the door was being slammed in Scott's face.**

"_I, um, thought that was Tallon's room."_

**He cleared his throat and kicked the box towards the next door.**

"…_forgot that was Gambit's room…All the cameras…"_

**"Well, at least Ah got th' chance to make Scotty look bad on national TV."**

"_Spandex? You want me to wear spandex pants?"_

"_Beats no pants at all."_

"_I like feeling free."_

"_Just put it on then come downstairs so we can adjust it right. Ok?"_

"_Sounds like fun."_

"_Uh, you might want to go change inside your room."_

"_Oh, sorry, mate."_

**The door closed and Scott turned to the camera again.**

"_For once, I'm glad that my sight is impaired."_

**Moments later, a camera caught Daniel as he poked his head around the corner. Thinking that it was all clear, he scuttled towards the stairs, yellow boots peeking out from under the thick black robe. At the bottom of the stairs Bobby, Tallon, Trey, Paul, and Malachi were already waiting.**

"_How come you don't have to wear pants, Bob?"_

"_They just get in the way. Besides, if I did, no one would be able to stare in awe at my sexy man-thighs."_

**"I still don't know why you wore that old nasty speedo." Jean wrinkled her nose.**

**"Like I said, no one can resist my sexy man-thighs."**

**"I can." Betsy raised her hand.**

**On the show, Bobby had stopped flexing his muscles for the camera and Katie was coming down the stairs.**

"_I stand corrected on the spandex-is-bad issue." _**Trey watched as she walked down the stairs. Soon, Betty followed, wrapped, like Daniel, in a bathrobe. Moments later, Sarah, Jean, and Rogue all walked down the stairs, dressed in identical yellow and black spandex uniforms. Jean and Rogue did not look happy.**

**"I like this part." Bobby rubbed his hands together, remembering what happened.**

"_Bobby! Where did you get that?"_**Jean pointed to Bobby's uniform.  
**

"_It was in my closet. With all of my other uniforms."_

"_WHAT!" _**Rogue looked around for any of the other X-Men, someone who might know where they had hid their uniforms.**

"_Jean, find out where they are. Ah don't care if Ah get kicked off this bleep show, Ah refuse to wear this bleep!"_

**"And usually you're so comfortable in uniform." Bobby chided her.**

**"You're obviously very comfortable in your masculinity there, captain panties." Her reply was laced with irritation.**

**The television version of Rogue was arguing with one of the staffers on the show.**

"_Ah didn't have t' wear one of these pieces of bleep when Ah first joined this little club, and Ah don't intend t' wear one now."_

"_Ms.Raven, the producers…"_

"_The producers! bleep the producers! bleep this, and bleep you! Ah don't bleep need this. Ah'll be in mah bleep room. Packing. Ah'm gonna go back to th' bleep brotherhood! At least Ah get t' wear mah own bleep clothes with those bleep. bleepthis all!" _**She stormed off, and moments later a door could be heard slamming so hard that it shattered, from the direction of her room.**

**"Ah'm surprised they didn't cut that whole brotherhood bit out."**

**"Yeah, I thought that was a little too much, myself." Jean agreed.**

**"They said to flip out. If they didn't want me t' really flip out, they shouldn't have said to flip out."**

**"You mean that was staged?"**

**"Only if it doesn't make you lose faith in television, Jubes."**

**"They actually told YOU to flip out?"**

**"They must not have done their homework."**

**"They wouldn't let me fly out either, they said Ah had t' stomp mah feet."**

**"You can't see it de way dat dey shot it, but dey actually laid a fake floor in case she stomped too hard."**

**"The secrets of television, children. Y'all will notice, later on in the danger room, Ah have my own clothes on again."**

**"That's good for everyone."**

* * *

**"This is the danger room. It may just look like a big gray room, but it isn't. This room is infused with more technology than any other training simulator on earth. These unassuming walls are made of a nickel-titanium alloy. Within them, there are localized force fields, which are triggered by a Master Control Intruder Detection System. Electromechanical security devices also regulate entry to the Ready Room Elevator and the Control Room."**

**"And what does that mean exactly?"**

**"That means, don't try to break in, you will end up in incredible pain if you are unable to provide both a retina scan and a voice print."**

**"That's reassuring."**

**"I know." Beast ushered the group into the center of the room and looked up into the control room. "Gambit?"**

**The speaker crackled. "Oui, Henri. One classroom coming up."**

**Instantly, the walls faded and the room turned into a small lecture room. Beast motioned for the contestants to sit down.**

**"What you are now sitting on is not real. It is a hologram. We can create these solid, realistic images thanks to the same technology that was used to enhance our jets. Four high- capacity computers generate these 32-bit color images at 300Gb/second. The force field resolution is on the order of 16 cubic centimeters. The entire room is mounted on a zero gravity field, which resists all induced motions from users." He nodded to the control room. "Library?"**

**The room changed right underneath them, and the people who were not used to the Danger room were all immensely shocked to find themselves sitting in a literal library. Beast chuckled. "Funny."**

**Rogue looked up at the booth, where Remy was grinning from ear to ear. She turned to Beast.**

**"Excuse me, teach, but Ah gotta use th' little girl's room."**

**Beast raised a furry eyebrow, and nodded. She flew off and disappeared into the Ready Room.**

**"Anyway," Beast continued, "The World-View Model Library includes digital models of over 50 million different objects, including every single one of their attributes." He picked up a bowl of fruit that was on one of the shelves and tossed an orange to Paul. "Go on, peel it. Inside and out, it is an orange. Take a bite; it tastes like an orange. But there's one small difference. It isn't really there." He nodded up to the Control Room and waited. After a moment, he started to grow impatient. "Gambit? REMY!"**

**The intercom sizzled again and Gambit's voice came over it, slightly out of breath.**

**"Désolé…somet'ing, erm…came up." They could hear someone giggling in the background, as the orange in Paul's hand disappeared. "Remy's going to step out for a minute. De room is on voice. You can handle t'ings, hein?"**

**"Sure." He turned his attention back to the assembled group. "You will all be issued temporary rights to access this room shortly, with the exception of Jean and Bobby, of course… and Anna, wherever she may be. In order to access this room, you must have one of the X-Men with you to work the controls. Now, we'll do a tutorial. Bobby, Jean… you can go now if you wish." He turned to the Control Room. "Run sim. 232" The room changed again and Jean and Bobby left. Now standing in a gym, complete with running track and weight benches, Beast began to instruct the contestants on the proper usage of the danger room.**

**

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A/N: A slightly quicker update. Still, reviews are nice. Hint, hint.  
**


	6. 6

DISCLAIMER: STILL do not own the X-Men. And ever since Stan Lee put out that restraining order... well, it aint gonna happen soon.

* * *

"**Y'all are perverts. That ain't what we were doing."**

"**Riight."**

"**Actually, she's telling the truth."**

"**Thank you, Jean. Now get outta mah head."**

"**Already one step ahead of you."**

"…**So what were you doing, then?"**

"**Keep an eye on Trey."**

**As they went through the exercises, Trey was visibly having issues with the equipment. He seemed to be fighting with the air around him.**

"**Zoom in, Betsy."**

"**What is that?"**

"**Remy was kind enough to program little tiny flies. He's used them before t' piss me off during exercises."**

"**Oui. But we tweaked dem a little bit."**

"**Yeah, now they talk."**

**Sarah covered her mouth. "That's what he meant? He kept on saying that the fairies were talking to him. We thought he was high."**

"**He probably was."**

"**An' we forgot- we colored dem yellow and pink and rouge, Rogue."**

**Sarah laughed. "hehe… rouge, Rogue."**

_"As the first day in the mansion draws to a close, the contestants start to get comfortable..."_

**One of the second-floor reading areas had been converted into a makeshift confessional, and Jean walked into it.**

"_It's really nice being home, but I can't help and feel bad for the others, the ones who aren't X-Men. We get to be here with our friends and family, and they're shoved into another environment, full of more people that they don't know. And then tomorrow, they're going to go through a challenge in the danger room. The three of us have been training in there for years. We know how that place works, we know how to get around things, we are completely comfortable using it. We are no longer afraid of the knowledge that what we're walking on is really a hologram, suspended twenty feet above the ground. We know to trust it. They do not. It seems like a completely unfair challenge. I've spoken to both Bobby and Ro—Anna about it, and they agree. We're not going to perform at our fullest. We couldn't if we wanted to, it just isn't fair. I can't help wondering if it was a mistake, putting the three of us on the island. Even out of the other mutants, it's no contest. And don't give me that look, Stu. Oh, Stu is the cameraman. And he just gave me a look. I'm not being conceited. It's a fact. We're all highly trained, we're experts at what we do.. These other mutants... I mean, Katie's a porn star, for crying out loud. She doesn't have the same training..."_

**" 'We're all highly trained. We're experts at what we do.' I sound like a bad drama show, don't I?"**

**"Aw, don't feel bad about it, luv. At least you didn't tell kids not to try that at home."**

"_Coming up, an inside look at the danger room, in use by the X-Men themselves."_

**The screen showed a clip of Jean cracking her knuckles and addressing the camera, as the Danger room doors closed.** _"Kids, do NOT try this at home."_

**"You're such a dork."**

**"You're one to talk, Scott." Jean quipped in return.**

**"Sorry, sugah... It's just not as cute when y'all do it."**

**"Ain't dat de trut'." Gambit gave Rogue a high five.**

**"I'm hungry. Let's order pizza." Bobby rubbed his stomach.**

**"I second that." Logan spoke up from the corner.**

**"Where's the phone?" Kitty fumbled around for it.**

**"I'll call." Betsy offered. Kitty tossed her the phone and she hit the speed dial number for the pizza place. "It's ringing... Oh, hello, darling. It's Elisabeth, from the Xavier Institute. Yes, I know it's been awhile. I've missed talking to you, too."**

**"What the hell is she talking about?"**

**"She likes t' make friends wit' de pizza guys, Wolvie."**

**"Yes, she's a social butterfly." Ororo grabbed the beer from Logan's hand, having finished hers. "Thanks."**

**He grumbled and got up to go get another beer.**

**"Well, we're all having a survivor party over here. Yes. We do it every week. You haven't? Well, you're more than welcome to stay and watch with us. It just started. Of course. Right. See you then! Thanks!" She hung up the phone.**

**"Did you forget to actually order the pizza?"**

**"No, they already knew what I wanted. We order the same thing every week. By the way, Sean is going to come over and watch."**

**"Sean?"**

**"Works the counter."**

**"Won't he be here a little bit late?" Kurt looked at his watch.**

**"He's coming over now."**

**"When's the pizza coming?"**

**"With him."**

**"That fast?"**

**"Like I said, they knew we were going to order it. You can always count on Bobby's gut."**

**"And gas." Sarah added.**

**"Hey. I'm right here."**

**

* * *

"JEAN! JEAN!"**

**She rolled her eyes and stepped out of the reading room/confessional. "I'm right here, Logan."**

**"Oh. Hi."**

**"Is that all you wanted to say?"**

**"No. Going to the grocery store. Anything you need?"**

**"Well I was thinking about making turkey for everyone tonight..."**

**"You might want to take that up with Gumbo."**

**"What?"**

**"LeBeau is down there right now. Cooking."**

**"Take your time at the store. I'll give you a 'ring' when I take over the cooking duties."**

**"Good luck with that."**

**She went down to the kitchen, passing Rogue and Sarah on the way.**

**"This is th' parlor. Ah feel so 'Gone With the Wind' sayin' that. This is th' parlor, where th' men talk about th' war. Ah find all of that so boring."**

**Sarah laughed, and Rogue curtsied.**

**"It was missing something."**

**"Oh?" She raised an eyebrow.**

**"Wait, there it is."**

**"Where?"**

**"The eyebrow. You have to raise the eyebrow. Here, watch." She cleared her throat and raised her eyebrow. "Ah do declare!"**

**"See, that was missing somethin' too."**

**"What?"**

**"The accent."**

**"Oh shut up."**

**"Ah'm sorry, that's something Ah just can't do."**

**She opened the door and let Sarah lead the way out towards the kitchen. Before she could open the door to the kitchen, though, the door slammed open by some unseen force and shouting could be heard.**

"**You can't do this! I am fire and life incarnate! I am..."**

"**Not cooking dinner tonight, dat's what you are, now get outta de kitchen, birdie."**

**Jean huffed out of the kitchen, running straight into Rogue, and slamming the door behind her telekinetically. **

"**Some celestial avatar, huh, Jeanie?"**

"**Shut up or I'll put you into a coma."**

**Rogue patted her friend on her bare shoulder, and left her hand resting there. "Likewise."**

**Jean looked down at her shoulder and sighed angrily. She stormed away, mumbling to herself.**

"**She'll calm down. If she doesn't, Ah'll calm her down myself."**

**She opened the door to the kitchen and poked her head in. "Rhett? Oh, Rhett?"**

**Sarah sniggered and followed her into the kitchen, where Gambit was already stirring a large pot. He spun around and bowed gallantly. **

"**Ms. O'Hara." **

"**Whatcha doin'?"**

**She hopped up onto the counter, and Sarah slid into a chair at the table. **

"**Cookin'"**

"**Whatcha cookin'?"**

"**Whatcha think?"**

**He ladled a spoonful and held it out to her. She tried some of it and nodded before the cayenne pepper fully kicked in. **

"**Agh...too spicy."**

"**Probably because Remy added a bit more of de pepper to dat spoon."**

"**That's mean! Why'd ya do that?"**

"**Because you're in de kitchen. Now get. Shoo."**

**He snapped the towel at her and she and Sarah darted out of the kitchen.**

"**Touchy, isn't he?"**

"**Yeah, he gets that way when he's cookin'."**

**Sarah looked around. "You know... I don't think I've seen a camera for about fifteen minutes."**

"**Ah threatened t', uh, 'fix' them if they came along on th' tour. There are parts of this mansion that they simply can't catch on film."**

"**Oh. Like where?"**

"**You wanna see something cool?"**

**"Oh yeah."**

**

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A/N: Update. woo hoo. Review!  
**


	7. 7

**DISCLAIMER: I still do not own the X-Men. **

**

* * *

"PIZZA!" Bobby went barreling towards the front door like a maniac. He opened the door, and the delivery guy was standing there, with countless boxes of pizza.**

"**Uh... Sean, right?"**

"**Yep. Elisabeth said I could stay for the show..."**

"**Yeah, come in." Bobby took half of the boxes and led the way to the rec. room. **

**The commercial had just ended, and the pizzas were passed around as Bobby's face came up in the confessional.**

_"I can't wait until the challenge this round. I'm gonna whoop some flatscan butt! Just kidding. Some of my best friends are flatscans."_

"**Hey... that guy looks a lot like you." Sean spoke up from where he was standing behind the couch.**

"**Yeah... that because it IS me." Bobby replied.**

"**Oh... wow. You're on Survivor?"**

"**Not anymore I'm not."**

"**Well, yeah, but... that's cool. Can I have your autograph?"**

"**You don't want his autograph." Kitty reached for another slice of pizza.**

"**Da, he's just Bobby."**

"**No, he's Bobby from Survivor!"**

"**And that's probably all that he's got going for him." **

"**Shut up, Sarah from Survivor."**

"**You're on it too?"**

"**Are ya all star-struck there, Sean?"**

"**Sure am. This is cool. I didn't know that I'd be sitting here with two of the contestants!"**

"**Well, ain't it just your lucky day, Sugar?"**

"**Guess it is. I'll want both of your autographs then."**

"**You've never seen this show before, have you kid?" Logan raised his beer and pointed it at Sean.**

"**No, sir."**

"**Someone explain it to him."**

**Jubilee stood up. "Do you know how the show works generally?"**

"**Yeah... castaways."**

"**Right. Well, this time it started off half mutants and half humans. It's getting close now. And right now the castaways are spending two days with the X-Men..."**

"**The X-Men! Awesome! I read about them in the paper. It said that there's a guy that's made out of metal! And like, all the girls can fly and stuff."**

"**Not all the girls." Betsy corrected him.**

"**Yeah. Not all the girls." Jubilee crossed her arms and sat down. **

"**No, all of them. I read it in the paper."**

"**Don't believe everything you read in the papers, luv."**

"**I'm telling you, it's true."**

"**If you say so." **

_"The X-Men's danger room is a place that anyone can train. From the weakest flatscans to the strongest mutants, the facility is the perfect place to work out."_

**"Am Ah the only one who thinks that that sounds lahke a bad promo f'r a vacation spot?" "It is a vacation spot." **

**"Yeah. Come see the sights, fight the robots. It won't cost you an arm and a leg. If you're fast enough."**

"**You're funny, Bobby."**

"**Shh... they're going to show the X-Men now."**

"**Wouldn't want to miss catching a glimpse of them, now would we?"**

"**Heavens, no." Betsy grabbed her heart dramatically.  
**

"**That would be horrible. A horrible, horrible thing to miss."**

**The cameras were set up so that the entire team could be seen walking into the danger room. Colossus was in his fully metal form, right down to his eyes. Bobby was all iced up. Everyone else was in full uniform, and Jean, Rogue, and Storm were all floating in the air, as was Warren.**

"**Holy shit! That guy has wings!"**

**Everybody turned to Sean.**

"**What? He does. Look! That dude's got like, a 12 foot wingspan!"**

"**Sixteen, actually." Warren stood up and the rest of the room instinctively ducked as he spread his wings.**

**Sean was astonished. "Wait a second..." **

**Warren folded his wings and sat back down, and Sean looked closer at the television, leaning over the couch. He noticed something else and literally fell over the couch back and onto Rogue's lap.**

"**Excuse me, pizza freak!"**

"**You can fly."**

"**Yeah, Ah know that. Ah've been able t' fly since Ah was 17. Got any more late breaking news?"**

"**Y...you're the X-Men?"**

"**Welcome to the party."**

"**You've been delivering pizza here for how long now, Sean?" **

"**B...No way!"**

"**Way." **

"**I want everyone's autographs now!"**

**Betsy perked up. "I'll go get my headshots."**

**She bounced out of the room, eager to get a chance to use the pictures that she hadn't used since she stopped modeling regularly. Xavier telepathically floated one of the team photos from the wall and pulled out a pen. **

"**You can have this. Are codenames ok?"**

"**Yeah. Codenames are awesome. Wish I had one."**

"**No, I mean to sign with."**

"**Oh... yeah, sure. Codenames. Yeah."**

**Xavier smiled as he removed the picture from its frame and signed over his own stomach. He passed the photo on and the rest of the team signed it before finally replacing it in it's frame and handing it back to Sean.**

"**There ya go. Take good care of it, Betsy doesn't wear that skanky outfit anymore."**

"**Not in public anyway. Right, Warren?"**

"**Um..." He cleared his throat uncomfortably and shifted in his seat. **

"**It's ok, Luv. You don't have to answer that." **

_"When we come back, our contestants will run this course. Two will win immunity. All will win knowledge of their opponents' weaknesses."_

**"Talk about cheesy. And I'm not just saying that because the pizza guy is here, either."**

**"Bobby?"**

**"Yessy?"**

**"Shut the f—"**

**"That's enough, Rogue." The professor pointed to the students who were still sitting in the corner, watching the show.**

**"Sorry, kids. Forgot Y'all were there."**

**"No problem." One of the students waved a hand in dismissal.  
**

**Another nodded. "Speak freely."**

**A third decided to add a rationalization. "Yeah, it's not like we didn't already see the whole thing out in the woods with—"**

**"Shut the f—"**

**"ROGUE!"**

**

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A/N: Another chapter. yay. Reviews are fun.  
**


	8. 8

**"Go down the tube there. Take a left." Rogue barked orders from above. She, Jean, and Bobby were going out of their way to help out the others, since they all felt sort of guilty about using their knowledge of the danger room to their advantage. They already had the whole intimidation factor going for them. And, as Jean explained to them during the explanation of the obstacle course, they didn't want to scare off the other contestants by playing up the X-Men connection. It was important for the others to remember them not as the people that got all high and mighty once they were "outed," but just as the people who were friendly and kind, and oh yeah, just happened to also be members of the most well known mutant crime fighting team on earth. So there they were, Jean and Rogue flying above and helping out the others as necessary, and Bobby somewhere inside the labyrinth, doing the same.**

"**What if I don't want to go down that tube? How do I know it isn't a trap?"**

"**Because Ah'm telling ya that it ain't a trap, that's how."**

"**And you expect me to believe you, 'Anna'?"**

**She sighed. "No, Trey, Ah don't. Ah just expect you to do what you think is necessary. Ah'm tryin' to help you, but if ya don't want help, Ah'll move on. See ya." She flew off, leaving Try to find his own way through the maze. As she passed Jean, she relayed his message. **

"**Trey don't want help. And Ah don't want to help him."**

"**Fair enough." **

**Rogue stopped as she noticed who was working under Jean. **

"**What's he doing?"**

"**Not sure. But it's working. He seems to be re-working the programming. Or something. It's the second time he's done it."**

"**So Danny boy is a mutant too?"**

"**Seems that way."**

"**Ah knew it."**

"**No, you didn't."**

"**Yeah, well..." She flew on, unable to think of a way to finish the sentence. Heading towards the finish line, she spotted Bobby and Sarah working their way to the end. It looked like Sarah would be the non-mutant that won immunity. She looked around and located the other contestants. Paul was trying to crack the code that was preventing him from entering into another chamber about halfway through the course, Betty was two rooms in front of him, struggling with a weight system trapping her in that room. Malachi was across the way, trying to answer a series of questions that would open the next door. Trey was still lost in the tunnels, and Tallon was opening doors easily, making his way through the maze very steadily. Katie, however, was nowhere to be seen. Rogue looked over the maze once again and decided that Betty would be the easiest to help. She tore a hole in the ceiling and landed next to the other girl. **

"**Need a hand?"**

"**Wha... did you already finish the maze?"**

"**No, Ah didn't start it yet. Frankly, Ah don't need to win this. It ain't fair to y'all. Bobby Jean and Ah know the room too well."**

"**How noble."**

"**Is that sarcasm?"**

"**No, not at all."**

"**If you say so... How long have ya been working on this door?"**

"**Fifteen minutes. At least."**

"**Move. Ah can't have Trey beating you, now can Ah?"**

"**Is he close?"**

"**Not really."**

"**Good." **

**Rogue hefted the remaining sandbags away from the door effortlessly, ushering Betty into the next chamber.**

"**Thanks, Anna."**

"**No problem. See you later." She flew off again and tried to find anyone else who might need help. She still couldn't find Katie, so she stopped at Tallon.**

"**Hey. Have you seen Katie?"**

"**Have I ever!" He winked.**

"**No, I mean today. In this challenge."**

"**Oh. Yeah, I've seen her." He pointed to the door, which had just swung open. "Care to join?"**

"**How'd you do that?"**

"**That, my dear, is a secret."**

**As they entered the next room, Tallon's "secret" was re-forming herself from what looked like a skin and clothes colored puddle. **

"**What the... Katie?"**

**As a mouth formed, Katie corrected her. "Call me Liquid."**

"**Wow. Where'd ya learn to do that?"**

"**Back when I was doing porn. Why do you think I got so many jobs? I can bend in ways that you can't." After a brief demonstration, she stepped over to the next door and stretched her arm out, folding it flat and reaching under the door. "You wouldn't happen to know the combination for this one, would you?"**

"**Uh... try one-three-three-seven. It overrides all of the doors."**

"**Cool. Excuse me." She slid under the doorway and moments later, the door opened. **

"**What a woman, huh?" Tallon smiled. **

**Rogue was stunned. "Yeah. Guess y'all don't need help."**

"**No, I believe m'lady has it all under control, Anna. But thanks."**

"**Right." **

**As she left, she heard a shout from the other side of the course. **

"**Daniel? You sure you want to do that?"**

**She sped over and watched on, as Daniel reset the counters on all of the doors within range of his powers. Nearby, Trey had just cracked the last of the codes on his next door. The door re-locked and he kicked it in anger, effectively bruising his foot. **

"**Ow! Mother—"**

**

* * *

**"**I didn't know that they had that many different types of censor beeps..."**

"**Man, that guy's an asshole."**

"**Sean catches on real quick, don't he?"**

"**Oh, come on. He wasn't that bad." Sarah came to Trey's rescue.**

"**You're kidding? You hated him worse than the rest of us did."**

"**No, I didn't..." She tried to deny it, but Bobby was right. "Fine. I just don't like to see people getting ganged up on, that's all." **

"**Wow. A lawyer wit' a conscience. Remy never t'ought he'd see de day."**

"**Shut up."**

"_Yes! I got it!" _**Katie had finished the obstacle course first and grabbed the shiny brass "X" disk engraved with the word mutant. She did a victory dance and Tallon danced with her until she pointed something out.**

"_Hey babe... don't you want to go get your disk?"_

"_My what?"_

**Katie held up her disk. **_"The disk that I got you through the maze for, dumbass."_

"_Oh... that disk. It's right over..."_

**He looked at the second podium for the disk, and came up with nothing. Slightly embarrassed, he checked the ground around it. **

"_It's not here!"_

**"Suits him right. Should have gone for that disk first thing." Logan pointed out the tactical error in Tallon's gameplay.**

**"Wouldn't have mattered. Sarah got it about ten minutes earlier."**

**Sean moved in close to the television.**

**"Down in front!"**

**"Pizza dude, out of the way!"**

**Backing up slightly, he nodded and pointed at the screen. "Yeah... I know her."**

**His finger was aimed directly at Katie. "I don't know where I know her from, but I definitely know her."**

**"She's a porn star, mon ami. Dat's probably where you know her from."**

**Sean blushed and moved back to his position on the floor next to the couch.**

**"Sean's a big fan of Pearl Jam. You want her number? Ah have it up in mah room."**

**"Really?"**

**"She's spoken for, though."**

**"Yeah, now she's Mrs. Dr. Tallon."**

**"That guy's a doctor?" Kitty exclaimed.**

**"Dental Surgeon."**

**"That guy, who is dancing at the finish line? The guy who walked to the second camp without any pants on? HE's a surgeon?"**

**"He's good, from what I've heard."**

**"Unbelievable."**

"_The obstacle complete, the immunities won, our castaways spend one last night in the mansion. Tomorrow morning, they will return to Genosha with two less people than they came with. When we return, it's time for the tribal council."_

**The segment ended, and a commercial came on. People in the room stretched and left to use the restrooms, and Sean looked over at Rogue expectantly.**

**"What?"**

**"Number?"**

**"Not now."**

**"It's a commercial!"**

**"Ah just got comfortable!"**

**"Please?"**

**"No, Ah'm not gonna go get you the stupid number!"**

**"Where is it? I'll get it." Jean was getting tired of listening to them argue.**

**"On mah desk. Rolodex."**

**"Ok." She closed her eyes.**

**Sean looked at her, waiting for her to move. "Well?"**

**"Hand me the phone please?"**

**As the cordless phone was tossed over to her, she started to dial. By the time it reached her outstretched hand, not only was it floating, but it was also ringing.**

**"Hello? Hey, Tal... There's a pizza guy here who wants to talk to Katie. He's a fan. No, he's never seen Survivor. Just today. Yeah? Well, how's that going? You do? Yeah, I'll ask."**

**She looked around the room and gave up, covering the phone instead. "Betsy!"**

**"Aye?" Betsy popped out of what seemed like nowhere, a nasty habit she had. She was unable to turn of the ninja instincts for normal life, which made living with her interesting, to say the least.**

**"Tallon wants to know if you could hook Katie up with some of the agencies that..."**

**"Say no more. I'll mail it out in the morning."**

**"Thanks. She'll do it. Yeah, I'll hold." She shook her head as if listening to music, and then her eyebrows arched. "Katie! Hey, It's Jean. Our pizza guy, Sean, thinks he has a chance with you. Yep. Here he is."**

**She handed the phone over to him, and he scrambled out of the room, trying to find a private place to talk.**

"_I don't know what he thought he was doing in there but let me tell you, I'm more than a little bit angry. Just because he's genetrash, it doesn't give him the excuse to go messing around with other people. Not only should he be voted off, but he should be beep beep as well. Crazy sonuva beep . I gotta go pack."_

**Trey was not a happy camper. Or castaway, as it were. He left the confessional and pushed angrily past Daniel, who was next in line.**

"_I don't know what his problem is, but all of us out there heard that shouting. And I can tell you, none of us are happy about it. Sure, I shut him out in the obstacle course, but that doesn't matter. It's just a game. If he wouldn't flip out so much, maybe he'd make it to the next round. As it is, though, I can tell you right now, he's out."_

**The camera switched to the tribal council, where they unanimously voted Trey off.**

"_Fine, I never liked any of you anyways."_

**The vote for the mutant to go, however, was much closer. In the end, though, Paul was voted off.**

**"I didn't even know he was a mutant until they told us the options in the vote."**

**"Yeah, neither did I."**

**"He's a low level Empath. Not at all developed."**

**"Ah felt so bad votin' him off... Ah mean, he's a priest..."**

**"Did you vote for him?"**

**"Naw, Ah voted for Jean."**

**"WHAT?"**

**"Aw, Jeanie, You know Ah love ya, but lets face it. You were mah only real competition."**

**"Hm... can't argue with that." The redhead nodded at her friend.**

**"Excuse me? Still sitting right here." Bobby raised his hand.**

**They all turned as the cordless phone was set back in it's cradle, and Sean sank back to his spot next to the couch.**

**"She said no."**

**"Told you so."**

**"You're lucky she didn't say more than just 'no.'"**

**

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A/N: Well, another chapter. Hope you enjoyed it. Reviews are always welcome, but you knew that.  
**


	9. 9

DISCLAIMER: Still don't own the X-Men or Survivor.

* * *

"**Home Sweet Island" Tallon leaned into the window as the jet circled Genosha. "Almost reminds you of Oz, hey Danny?"**

"**No. It does not."**

"**Crikey mate. You need to—"**

"**Tallon! Shut the hell up!" Daniel had reached the breaking point. Normally, he was a very patient man, but Tallon's incessant blabbing, as well as the fact that they had just given up food, warmth, shelter, beds and indoor plumbing to live together on a desert isle had his patience wearing thin. **

"**Oh, can't you both just put a sock in it? You're giving me a bloody headache." Malachi was rather cranky as well. In fact, all of the occupants of the jet were in less than ecstatic moods. They had bid farewell to the X-Men back at the mansion, and boarded the jet with Cyclops and Gambit, who came along to pilot. **

**The jet set down on the beach, sinking softly into the sand. Each of the castaways grabbed their bags (graciously provided courtesy of the X-Men and emblazoned with the team logo) slowly and dragged their feet getting onto the beach and starting the trek back to camp. **

**Sarah spun around, having counted the people walking in front of her and noticed that there were two missing. She watched as the real reason that the two men had piloted the jet was revealed. **

"**_We'll catch up." _She wasn't yet accustomed to Jean's telepathic messages, but she understood and jogged up to Bobby to relay the message. After successfully talking him into carrying her bag, they headed up the trail.**

"**Hey Jean, can we get some privacy?" Rogue hadn't even bothered to get out of her seat yet. **

"**No, We called the jet." **

"**You did not!"**

**In the cockpit, Scott and Remy were going through the post-flight checklist. They looked at each other, matching expressions on their faces. They could put a stop to the brewing argument, but what would be the purpose of that? **

"**It doesn't matter! Scott's team leader, that means we automatically get the jet."**

"**No, all that means is that y're tryin' t' sleep your way to the top!"**

""**Is that what it means?"**

"**Yeah, that's what it means. And don't you go pokin' around inside my head either, or else Ah might have t' poke around in your face."**

"**I dare you to try it."**

**Remy and Scott had finished running down the list and were sitting in the pilot and co-pilot seats, watching. Remy lit a cigarette and offered one to Scott, who politely declined.**

"**Oh, Ah'll try it. Ah'll lay you out and your little boyfriend there'll have t' carry you outta the jet."**

"**First of all, he's not my boyfriend, he's my husband which is more than I can say for you and your little boy toy."**

**Across the jet, a boot extinguished a half-smoked cigarette.**

"**Dieu... She's going too far."**

"**Just let them get it out."**

"**Easy for you to say. De femme di'nt just call you a boy toy."**

"**Well you sort of are..."**

"**Summers, don' make me do somet'ing dat I'm going to regret."**

"**Ooh, hey look." Scott pointed to the girls, half trying to get Remy's attention off of him and half because the fight had escalated into a slapping match.**

"**What I don' get," Remy said as he lit another cigarette, "is why dey even bot'er wit de slapping. Dey got dose powers an' all. Eit'er one could lay bot' of us out wit' one hit."**

"**Maybe that's the point. Anyways, why complain? Just enjoy it."**

**Jean's hand connected solidly with Rogue's face, but she was prepared. She was also done playing clean. Jean stumbled back as Rogue absorbed part of her. Before Rogue could launch herself at Jean to finish the fight off, Jean used her telekinesis to slam the other woman against the side of the jet. Scott shot out of his seat.**

"**HEY! Watch the jet!"**

"**You still enjoyin' it, Mon Ami?"**

**Rogue had recovered, only slightly winded. She picked up a rock and rushed at Jean, landing a punch with one hand and hitting her in the face with the rock. Jean fell back, and both Scott and Remy winced.**

**"Ouch... dat's gonna hurt in de morning."**

**Scott rubbed his face, remembering danger room sessions of the past. Before he could react, Jean had leapt into the air, ready to retaliate. Scott breathed a sigh of relief.**

**"Force field." **

**Remy nodded knowingly as Rogue, too, leapt into the air, matching Jean. Jean lifted herself higher into the air, and Rogue matched her height again. They continued to rise higher and higher, until both men had to squint to see them. **

**"Dis is getting frustrating."**

**"Yeah, you ready to go?"**

**"Oui."**

**

* * *

**  
_"Holy crap, what are those!"_

_"Birds?"_

_"Don't you see how big those are? No way those are birds."_

_"Planes, maybe?"_

"No, I think that's...yeah. That's Jean there. The one on the left. And on the right, no, left now. Ro-Anna."** Bobby laughed as he pointed at them, sorely tempted to ice up and get a closer look.**

**The entire aerial catfight had been caught on tape. **

**"Ouch. That looks like it hurts." Kitty held her won head as Jean got a fistful of Rogue's hair onscreen. **

**"Kick her ass! Kick her bloody ass, Rogue!" Betsy's eyes were filled with the passion that was usually only reserved for football (or soccer, take your pick) games. Before she had a chance to realize what exactly she'd said, pillows began hitting her, coming not only from the living room, but also from people's bedrooms. **

**"Why are you taking her side!" Jean was angry. And pillows were still flying. A large purple Care-Bears pillow hit Betsy square in the face. Picking it up, she looked around the room.**

**"Jubilee? Is this yours?" **

**"Nope. But I know whose it is." Jubilee grinned as if she was conspiring against someone, and instinctively, most of the team leaned in to listen.**

**"So... who is it?" **

**"GAA" Logan exploded from across the room and leapt over to Betsy, wrenching the pillow out of her hands and running out of the room. No one could think of anything to say, until Jubilee cleared her throat.**

**"Does that answer your question?"**

"Oh, man... that looked like it hurt" 

**The aerial battle was escalating, and Rogue had just been knocked out of the sky and was falling towards the ground, near where the other castaways were standing, watching. They winced collectively as a loud crack sounded from the near woods, and a large tree started to fall.**

"Someone gonna check on that? She's probably hurt."

_"Just give it a second." _**Bobby was completely uninterested. **

**Sure enough, Rogue was back in the air within seconds. **

"Oh, man... and NOW, ladies and gentlemen, the gloves are off. Literally."** Bobby was enjoying doing the running commentary of the fight. And there was a lot to comment on. Jean had let her guard down for a second, opening up just enough room for Rogue to get her hand securely on Jean's face. They were at a stalemate. Either Jean fought back and succeeded in knocking Rogue out of the air, or she risked Rogue actually absorbing her. Rogue's invulnerability would save her from such a large fall (again), but Jean couldn't use her powers to shield herself when she was unconscious.** **Even though the cameras were unable to pick up the conversation, the result of the fight was clear. Jean threw her hands up in the air, and Rogue smiled and headed towards the beach, before noticing something. Her anger was then taken out on a tree, as she landed in the middle of the woods. Jean landed near the group, laughing. **

**"Dieu... If we'd known you'd take it out on de greenery, we'd have stayed longer."**

**Scott looked at Remy, and both of them started to smile, before stating at the same time, "No, we wouldn't." **

**Pillows started flying again.**

"Shouldn't we wait for Anna?"** It was hard to tell whether Malachi actually wanted to be kind or he wanted to see what size bruises she'd have after felling a number of huge trees. **

"She'll catch up." **Jean waved dismissively and held up her hand. Seconds later, her bag flew to her from wherever it had been tossed on the beach.**

**"Ah'll catch up, will Ah? What if Ah'd gotten hurt or something? You were really ready t' just let me stay there, all broken and..."**

**"The only one who got hurt there was the trees. You tore down about a square mile of foliage!" Jean gestured somewhat wildly.**

**"Did not."**

**"Did too."**

**"Merde, here we go again..."**

**"Could you two take this somewhere else? We're trying to watch the show." Betsy pointed at the screen impatiently. **

**Both women decided to stay quiet, but continued to shoot glares at each other, and soon, they were having a full-out argument via telepathy. **

**"I said to cut it out! You're giving me a bloody headache!" Betsy bellowed, leaving the entire room silent.  
**

**

* * *

"No powers?" Wringing out her shirt, Rogue looked at the other girls. "Ah can't even do that. Ah don' know when Ah'm usin' my powers half the time."**

**"Hey, at least they gave us a whole day to prepare." Betty squeezed the last droplet of her shampoo out into her hand. "Dangit... anyone have shampoo I can borrow?"**

**"That depends. Are you going to help me build shelter on the challenge tomorrow?" Katie raised an eyebrow, waiting for the answer. **

**"You know I am. We agreed, we stick together as long as possible, right?"**

**The other girls nodded in agreement, and Katie grinned and tossed the bottle of shampoo at Betty, who caught it. "This is still a full bottle... how'd you manage to keep it this long?"**

**Katie swam over to a waterfall and rinsed out her hair. "I didn't. I sweet-talked one of those X-Boys into buying me some more."**

**"Going against the rules?" Sarah looked up from where she was trying (unsuccessfully) to get sand out of her shoes. "One of the good guys? That jut kills my faith in the team." **

**"Yeah, well everyone has weaknesses. Which one was it?" Jean was laying on a rock in her bathing suit while the rest of her clothes seemed to wash themselves in the pool. **

**"The blue hairy one. He said he knew how important it was to keep one's fur clean." **

**Jean and Rogue exchanged a look. "Which blue hairy one?" They said in unison.**

**"Um... the one with the pointy teeth?"**

**"Be more specific, Katie." Jean sat up. "Did he have a tail?"**

**"Wow." Betty shook her head. "This is by far the oddest conversation I've ever had."**

**Rogue laughed. "Get used to it, Sugar."**

**"Yeah." Katie looked thoughtful. Or constipated. It was hard to tell. "He had a tail. And a cute accent. He was kind of hot." **

**A soggy pair of shorts flew at Katie's head. She saw it, though, and shrunk her head down very small, so that the pants hit a tree behind her, instead, with a loud crack.**

**"What! What did I say? He is hot."**

**"Yeah, he's also mah brother. And he's a priest. Don't be going all Pearl Jam on him, y'hear?" **

**Katie smiled. "Yeah, now I see the family resemblance... you both have fangs."**

**"And don't forget it." Rogue went back to washing her clothes. "Give me those shorts, would you?" **

**Katie rolled her eyes and stretched out, reaching the shorts easily and flinging them back at Rogue. Betty finished washing her hair and sat up on the edge of the stream.**

**"I still don't see why it's going to be a problem. I mean... explain it to me, would you? Isn't your power something about skin? So just don't touch anyone. And don't fly. That's easy enough."**

**"No, Ah mean... yeah, that's my power, but Ah have others, too. Like strength. Ah don't even know when Ah'm usin' that anymore. And 7th sense. It all just comes naturally now. Besides, Ah can't help it if we get attacked by bees and y'all get stung up but Ah walk away without a scratch."**

**"Can't you just...turn it off?"**

**"Can you just turn off your lungs?"**

**"Of course not."**

**"There you have it."**

**"Collars." Jean spoke up from across the way, earning four identical quizzical looks. "I bet they'll use collars. Like the ones from Genosha... the prisons, I mean. Power dampeners."**

**Rogue's eyes grew wide. "You think? Ain't that a little dangerous, letting people know that that kind of technology is out there?"**

**"Wait a minute... what kind of technology?" Sarah had a pretty good idea, but didn't like not being filled in on everything. **

**Jean slid off the rock and into the pool collecting her clothes and laying them out to dry. "Power dampeners. They used them like crazy back when Genosha was basically a huge mutant containment center. Completely negates any mutant power. Of course, back then they were highly unstable. Often had side effects, but more recently, there have been advancements made in the technology. They no longer have to be collars. There's one type that we saw used where the field covered about a thirty square foot area. All mutants within range found themselves without the ability to use their powers." **

**Rogue had grown silent, something that Betty noticed almost immediately. Turning to Jean, she lowered her voice a bit.**

**"By saw used, you mean 'had used on us,' don't you?"**

**Jean nodded quietly. Moments passed, and no one said anything, then there was a sudden splashing sound as Rogue launched herself into the air. **

**Jean sighed, and everyone looked at her. **

**"Well," Sarah started. "Aren't you going to go after her?"**

**Jean shook her head. "No, it's better to let her work it out. It's a bit of a sore subject. If she isn't back here in fifteen minutes, I'll have Bobby go after her."**

**She collected her clothes and Rogue's as well and climbed out of the pool. **

**"We should get back to camp."**

**

* * *

A/N: Sorry it took so darn long. I tried to make the chapter a little longer to make up for that. Reviews are fun for everyone. Yeah, there's a reason I don't do poetry...  
**


	10. 10

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own the X-Men or Survivor. **

**

* * *

"You're going to miss it!" Jubilee bounced up and down a bit at the foot of the stairs. She didn't want to lose her seat, but she'd been sent to call the rest of the people down. Jean-Paul flew down the stairs, stopping with a rush of air.**

**"I could have still made it in time."**

**Jubilee rolled her eyes. "You're lucky we invited you to this."**

**He smiled. "Couldn't have kept it from me."**

**"Yeah, you're right. Is Rogue coming down?"**

**"She said she doesn't want to see this episode."**

**"Fine. Then you have to go get the chips. Seeya." Jubilee ran into the living room to claim her seat, but Jean-Paul was already sitting there with the chips in his lap. She grumbled and climbed onto the couch, as the show started.**

_"This week, on Survivor: Genosha, our mutant castaways are faced with a unique challenge when their powers are negated and they-along with everyone else- must live off the land for five days. Who will break down? Who will emerge victorious?"_

"One guess." The whole room turned as Rogue walked past the room and offered her comments. A loud jingling noise was heard, and she crossed the doorway again, carrying her keys. "Ah'm going to Harry's."

There were a few nods, and general silence, until Jean-Paul decided to ask.

"What's up with her? She doesn't get voted off this week, does she?"

Jubilee's eyebrows shot up, and she started to talk, before Jean clamped her mouth shut. "We aren't allowed to tell."

"So many secrets." Jean-Paul held up the bowl. "Anyone want these?"

No one answered him, since the show had started up again.

"Fine, ignore me." He grabbed a handful of chips and started to eat them.

_"This machine will negate any superhuman powers within a fifty mile range. Earlier, we had Warren demonstrate." _Jeff Probst was grinning, as usual, oddly ecstatic to be there, as he pressed a button and Warren, who had been flapping his wings theatrically, suddenly got still, his wings folding up against his back.

_"Unlike earlier models, there are no side effects, the process is entirely pain free and safe. In moments, our castaways will be separated, sent to different sides of the island. Once there, they must survive for as long as possible without the aide of their powers, and with no food and water. At the end of five days, whoever is in the best shape will win immunity."_

The castaways were a mix of different emotions. Some of the flatscans were obviously happy that the playing field would be somewhat leveled, some (most noticeably the women) were worried about their mutant friends. The mutants, too, had different expressions on their faces. Some were quizzical, some were downright scared. But none of them really knew what would happen. The same expressions coursed across the faces of the group viewing at the Xavier Institute. Mostly students that particular night (quite a few of the team members were out on a mission), some people didn't know about the X-Men's different run-ins with maniacs wielding power negating devices. Those that did had a sudden idea as to why Rogue chose not to watch that particular night.

She raised her hand once they'd finished with their whole little schpiel. Raising an eyebrow, Jeff pointed to her. "Anna?"

"If Ah choose not to participate in this challenge, will Ah be automatically kicked off?"

He looked over towards the director who was standing near a cameraman, then nodded. "Yes."

"Damn." She turned around and walked into the woods, leaning against a tree. After a few minutes, she returned, wiping something away from her eyes. "Okay."

Within half an hour, they were all moved to the far side of the island, away from their camps. The machine had been switched on, and the cameras were rolling. Trying her best to claw through the underbrush, Rogue was getting very angry with the cameraman.

"Can't you follow someone else around for a little bit?"

He grinned and shook his head, and she moved on, struggling a bit more than normally. Her anger rising again, she spun and faced him once more.

"You're really enjoying yourself here, aren't you? You like seeing me in pain, you sadistic sonofa—OW!" She grabbed her foot and looked down. Sure enough, she'd stepped on a very sharp rock and was bleeding. She pointed to her foot and started to cry. "Ah'm bleeding! You see what you made me do! Ah'm bleeding now!"

She sat down, somewhat fascinated. "Ah'm bleeding..." The cameraman quickly lost interest and moved on to find another castaway to shadow, laughing as he left.

"Ah hear that laughing! When my powers come back, Ah'm gonna kick your ass!" She realized that he was long gone, and looked up into one of the other cameras that were stationed around the island. "Anyone got a band-aid?"

**"Boo hoo! I need a band-aid!" Marty laughed as he took another swig of his beer. "That's why chicks never win this show. They're too weak." He wasn't normally one to watch reality TV, but recently, he'd discovered the joy of watching Survivor while drinking with his buddies. Normally, his jokes went over quite well, but for some reason, they weren't too happy about that particular one. He turned to find out why and came nose to nose with the very woman who he was making fun of moments earlier. **

**"You want to say that again, sugar?"**

**He looked over at his friends, who were grinning, and laughed. "Yeah, I want to say it again. You're a freakin' crybaby. You're too weak, and I hope you get voted off."**

**She nodded silently and reached towards him, prompting Harry to clear his throat and point towards the door. Rolling her eyes, she picked the man up by the front of his shirt and walked outside, where she chucked him nearly forty feet. Somewhat calmed down, she returned to the bar and sat down, ordering a bourbon. When Harry handed the glass over, he gestured to the television.**

**"Want me to change it?"**

**"Nah, that's okay. Let these slobs have their fun."**

**Shrugging, Harry smiled and reached under the bar, handing her the entire bottle with a wink. "I know you can hold it."**

**"Thanks."**

**She turned back to the television, somewhat interested in seeing what all they cut from the episode. She frowned and suddenly wished that alcohol had more of an effect on her, as the commercial ended.**

_"Wait up, y'all! Ah cut my foot and it hurts like a bleep!"_

_"Oh, suck it up, superhero."_

_"Katie, if you weren't standing up on that hill, Ah'd be killing you right now."_

_"Or trying at least."_

**Rogue groaned and poured herself another glass, as Marty staggered back into the bar. Spinning in her seat, she glared at him as the television showed Sarah entering the confessional.**

_"I'm kind of worried... You know, you'd think that Anna would be scariest when she's able to pound you into the pavement with one hand tied behind her back and blindfolded. But no, at least then you know what's going on. I had to help her crack open a coconut today. A coconut! Two days ago, she'd have been able to do that with one hand. She and Jean have been at each other's throats constantly. I guess they're so used to having the powers that they have a hard time without them. Katie doesn't seem to mind a bit about the lack of powers. But she didn't really use them every day like they did. I wonder how Bobby's doing... from what I've heard, he hasn't even had to drink warm water for years."_

**Sure enough, the camera shifted to the other side of the camp, where the guys had decided to go it solo. Bobby was sitting in a tree, in nothing but a pair of swim shorts, panting. Below him, Malachi was throwing rocks at the tree.**

_"Hey Iceface! While you're up there, you want to throw down some bananas?"_

_"No! It's too hot to move!"_

**The trees started to rustle in the wind, and he stood up, trying to catch as much of the breeze as possible. Realizing that Malachi wasn't going to leave until he got some bananas, he reached out and knocked down a few bushels of bananas, then jumped out of the tree, landing somewhat shakily on the ground.**

_"I'm going swimming."_

**Malachi waved as Bobby left and gathered the bananas, making sure to walk past all of the other guys on his way back to his little camp area, and wave the bananas in their faces.**

_"Hey, Daniel. I've got food. Good luck finding some for yourself."_

_"Shove your food up your bleep, you bleepbleep"_

_"Such hostility... oh, look it's Tallon! Tallon! Look at the food I have!"_

**Tallon wasn't very enthusiastic either, and ended up tripping Malachi and taking one of the bushels, then returning to Daniel's side.**

_"We've got to do something about him, Danny-boy. Want a banana?"_

_"Sure, thanks mate. Yeah. That fella needs to be put in his place. All of a sudden, he's got a big head."_

_"How're you doing? You know, without..."_

_"Powers? Well, they weren't very good on a deserted island anyways, you know? No machines. Except back when we were stationed near the old labs. Lots of stuff to use there."_

_"Right. Well, I'm going to give you some free advice. Stay away from the pool that's over in that clearing there. Bob has decided to go skinny-dipping and doesn't seem to care who sees him."_

_"Thanks."_

**Rogue laughed at the bar, getting a few odd looks from the other patrons, and some scared looks from Marty and his friends. She looked over at them and tried to explain. "It's because Bobby is so...oh forget it." Rolling her eyes, she went back to watching the show.**

**

* * *

**

**At the mansion, Bobby was getting a lot of strange looks. He sipped his beer and shrugged. "It was hot."**

"_Hey, you. Yeah, behind the camera guy. Ah don't care about all that 'breaking the fourth wall' crap. You gotta get me outta this challenge. Ah'll do anything."_

**A collective cat-call went up from the males watching the show (and a few of the females, too). Remy grinned, trying to hide the fact that he didn't like where this was going. Luckily for him, the camera shifted again and a familiar blue-skinned mutant stepped out of the forest, looking incredibly confused.**

**"What the crap!" Scott dropped his milk and leaned in to get a better look. He couldn't see the colors, but the figure looked familiar. "Is that…"**

**"Mystique." Kurt confirmed it.**

**Jean laughed. "I guess they didn't tell the camera crew about the power dampeners."**

**There was no audio over the shot, probably because it seemed like every other word coming from Mystique's mouth was inappropriate for a network television audience. The chow cut to commercial, promising more of the unexpected visitor after the break. The group shifted and stretched, and a little beeping noise let them know that Cerebro had picked up on hostile mutant activity. The professor raced downstairs and the rest of them tensed up, following quickly. By the time they reached the hallway outside the chamber, he had finished and emerged with a smile.**

**"Mystique and the Brotherhood are attacking the CBS affiliate in town. Any volunteers to stop her?"**

**They looked around, and Remy shot up his hand. He didn't really want to stay and see what "Ah'll do anything" ended up being. Darting off to get changed, he breathed a sigh of relief. **

**

* * *

Less than two minutes later, Remy, Polaris, Psylocke, and Kitty were in the Blackbird, heading towards New York.**

**"Hehe… Remy feels like a pimp."**

**Two icy glares and one wink were returned to him. He smiled and revved the plane's engine, then landed on top of the building. They all got out, Polaris and Shadowcat flying down to the first floor, and Remy picking the lock on the stairs on the roof. "After you, Betsy."**

**She curtsied pleasantly and jumped into the stairwell, not even bothering to use the stairs themselves. Remy closed the door behind him and followed suit.**

**It didn't take them long to locate the floor on which the Brotherhood was making their attack. The explosions and thuds made it pretty clear. Betsy had already entered the fray and Remy ducked in silently behind her, hoping to stay in the shadows until he could assess exactly what was going on. Soon, Kitty and Polaris were also engaging the Brotherhood, and he took note of who all seemed to be there. Avalanche was trying to throw Kitty off-balance, and Toad was backed into a corner, with Polaris slowly caging him in using various metal things that were lying around the room. He looked around for Psylocke and found her stalking a person who looked a lot like a roadie. He knew better, though. The rest of the room seemed to be deserted. He watched the girls, trying to figure out who needed the most (if any) help.**

**"Looking for something, Stripling?"**

**Remy wheeled around and came face to face with Exodus. Smiling, he extended his hand. "Bonjour, Exodus! What brings y' to de city tonight?"**

**Exodus narrowed his eyes and didn't respond, so Remy kept talking. "You doin' de dirty work for Mystique now, too? T'ought your only alliance was wit' ol' bucket head?"**

**"It is. I owe this woman nothing, and Magneto everything."**

**Remy whistled. "Yet, y' get dragged along t' dis little party."**

**"I do not participate, except perhaps to squash you like an insect."**

**Remy's smile got wider. "Which is exactly why she brought you along, non?"**

**Exodus' eyes sparked a little bit, and he began to get angry. "How dare you speak to me like that!"**

**"It just strikes me as odd dat you'd be out here doin' somet'in for her, makin' her t'ink dat you work for her when y' really work for your main man Mags."**

**Nostrils flaring, Exodus growled. "I could kill you with just a thought."**

**Remy shrugged. "I suppose. Adieu."**

**He vaulted over the bench that he was hiding behind and threw a charged card at Mystique. Polaris had completely caged Toad, and Kitty had Phased Avalanche part of the way through the floor, delaying him enough for Polaris to form a cocoon of metal around him as well. Now Psylocke, Gambit, and Shadowcat were all circling around Mystique.**

**"You're outnumbered." Betsy pointed out the obvious.**

**"Thanks for the heads up." Shifting back to her true form, Mystique crossed her arms, seemingly unfazed by the fact that she was the only person on her team left to fight, whereas all four of the X-Men had barely broken a sweat.**

**"What's the point of this, Mystique?" Kitty's eyes were narrowed, and she meant business.**

**"No point." Mystique shrugged. "I just felt like it."**

**"Um… what?" Polaris had joined them and was confused.**

**"As I said, I just felt like it. I'm sure you were watching. I never signed a release for my image to be used. I could sue. But suing isn't fun. Besides, The boys were getting restless." She smiled at Polaris. "Thanks for taking care of them for me."**

**The X-Men flew home in a state of confusion. "What just happened?" Kitty rubbed her head.**

**"She's nuts. That's what just happened." Polaris sipped her coffee. "But at least we got to go to Starbucks."**

**By the time they got back to the mansion, the show was over for the week. They walked into the room.**

**"Please tell me that one of you recorded it?" Kitty was a bit upset that she missed the challenge.**

**"Yeah, but it's not worth watching… they just showed Mystique walking away again and then the main parts of the challenge and then Malachi getting voted off, and then Rogue dancing because they turned off the dampener…" Bobby yawned.**

**"…Dancing?" Remy was intrigued.**

**

* * *

**

**At the bar, the show had ended, and Marty and his friends looked over at her. "Nice dance."**

**She glared and finished off the bottle of bourbon, then paid Harry. Swiveling in her chair again, she smiled sweetly. "You want an encore presentation?"**

**Marty's friends whooped and cheered, and she grabbed him by the wrist and headed out of the bar. The crowd followed, but they were too late to see the action, and instead found their friend stuffed into a garbage can, groaning. Towards the end of the driveway, a motorcycle was tearing out of the parking lot.**

**

* * *

A/N: Sorry it took so long, I've been suffering from the world's worst case of writer's block. Not to be confused with my one-shot, "Writer's Block," which you should all go read. Hehe... yeah, I plugged the story. So, yeah. And on top of the writer's block, I've been working on setting up my rpg (check my profile for a link, since this isn't letting me do it here...) so that's taken a lot of time, too. Hopefully, though, I'll be able to post the next chapter sometime soon! Oh, and review!  
**


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